Blood, Sweat and Fire
by Dhagon
Summary: Oceans of blood and the fires of hell. If I'm to be a Targaryen in a world as dangerous as this, there is no sense holding back. At all. And while I'm at it I may just lay down the foundation for a better future. One block at a time. After all history isn't written by who was morally superior, it's written by who won. SI.
1. A Rough Start

A/N: Inpired by Let's Play Minecraft in a World of Spells and Swords and several SI GoT fanfics. I do not own either GoT or Minecraft.

Chapter 1 A Rough Start

In despair I watched the baby cough. I had seen all to many deaths in my time, but this one like no other caused me despair. Aegon Targaryen, renamed Jon Snow, was dying. All my visions, all my plans had hinged upon him. Without him, I could see no future.

I watched his step mother ignore him and wanted to rage and rant. Could she not tell how important he was? Why was I the only one there to watch as he steadily became weaker? If only I could reach out and help.

Alas I am largely powerless, able to see but not interfere. So very weak after so many years. Years hiding from the Night King and his White Walkers. And now it may as well have been for nothing.

When he finally died so did all my plans. All that preparation for naught. I contemplated walking out to just let my enemies find me. I probably would have if it was actually possible to leave my tree.

I hope little Bran Stark has a future.

Maybe I can warn him to flee in time to preserve his gift. Maybe he'll be able to find a future where I can no longer see one.

I lost track of how long I despaired. I stopped using my eyes, not wanting to watch a world that was doomed. Instead, lost in regret, I just stared at the at the mass of roots that cover me. They are the price for my powers. Useless, pointless powers.

...

With an almost physical wrenching sensation my vision shifted. My view careened across the land as it was dragged across Westeros to view what I could feel would be a significant event. I could feel my strength draining as events unfolded in painful clarity. I had never had a vision so strong before.

I recognize the elaborate architecture. Dragonstone, home of the Targaryens. A woman lay on a bed giving birth. I recognize her features as Targaryen, but not her. I hope it isn't important. How much have I missed in my despair?

My hope flickered even as the vision faded. Maybe another was to be born to take Aegon's place? Uncertain I poured my remaining energy into the vision. Somehow I knew this was important. I needed to see this.

When the child is born my vision fragments. It hurts, like I had hot pokers shoved in my eyes. I feel blind. Me, Lord Bloodraven with a thousand and one eyes, and I am blind. The gods gave me hope, then took my sight. Truly they are all assholes.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I was born the second time I admit I was a bit excited. You read about self insert situations all the time, but never really expect it to happen to you. Well, that or reincarnation. Either way the world has just proven itself infinitely more interesting than I had previously thought.

At least that was my initial expectations. I admit it was hard to hold onto that enthusiasm as I was subsequently squeezed and crushed and then frozen. Being born was traumatic. I still cringe when I think back to how my bones bent to allow my birth.

Despite the pain, I eagerly gazed around. This was it! This was my new life. Time to see what I got. Sadly my new eyes had trouble focusing, but I could hear perfectly fine. Thus I listened to what I assumed to be my mother give birth to another baby.

So sibling. Come on. Hurry up and name me already. I need info.

"They will be called stormborn." Why did that sound familiar?

"His name will be Maekor." Meh. Not great and a bit pretentious.

"Just as your namesake may you represent a new future." That's nice. Still not happy with the name.

"Her name will be Daenerys." Wait, what? Ahh, damn. If she said anything else I failed to hear it. I was upset enough that I couldn't really stop my infant body from crying at that point. Good news I know where and when I am. Bad news is where and when I am.

Freaking Planetos. This world is a nightmare. Of all the possible fantasy settings and I get one of the lowest magic ones possible? Couldn't I at least have been a Stark? At least they were wargs. As a Targaryen I have an affinity towards giant, temperamental fire-breathing creatures. Which are sort of extinct. This sucks.

I wish I had never been born.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My initial impressions of my situation may have been a little bit off. First off I actually end up remembering how I died. So I'm much happier now since it means I'm actually alive. As in an order of magnitude happier.

I can even kind of get why I'm here too. Freezing to death after being mugged was a pretty terrible way to go. It sort of fits the whole reincarnated as a Targaryen with their burning people to death thing. Or I may be trying to hard to have it make actual logical sense. In a karmic sort of way. Or maybe Newtonian.

There was another reason I didn't mind too much. That part may tie in to my discovery that I did in fact have magic. Kind of. Still, it makes an enormous difference.

When I can finally focus my eyes and I saw the HUD I was pretty excited. The Gamer ability was utterly broken given enough time. Mentally I screamed out Menu and various command prompts. It was only with my success with Inventory that I realized I wasn't a Gamer.

Well I was a gamer, but not The Gamer. No, my abilities seemed to be much more limited. Not that I was picky. Any advantage was to be treasured in this death trap of a world.

Minecraft. Not really what I would have picked but the more I thought about it the more it seemed to fit. The importance of obsidian. The emphasis on enchanted items rather than casting spells. The focus on fire. The significance of dragons.

No. Minecraft seems very appropriate. And my name fit too. If I couldn't be named Steve, Maekor fit well enough.

The more I thought about it, the more possibilities I thought of. Every advantage was to be ruthlessly exploited. Depending on whether it was the book or TV version I had between fifteen and twenty years before the Long Night starts. There is no way I'm freezing to death a second time.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I had plenty of time to make my plans. The journey across the sea was long and pretty boring. Boring since there was no real way for me to experiment with my abilities without fine motor skills or well, any motor skills.

I did get to know some of the people I would be growing up with. My sister was a baby so not much there. Cute in that wrinkly old man way all babies are. Carefully watching doesn't show her acting in any way different. So probably just a normal baby. Well as normal as someone that grows up to be called the Mother of Dragon's can be. Which apparently is a lot.

My older brother though actually seemed fairly decent. Viserys actually helped the wet nurse take care of me and Daenerys. He whined a lot, but that was hardly a crime.

He also looked a bit older than five, which argued for it being closer to the books. Which meant I only had around a decade to prepare. The books start when Daenerys is thirteen and most of the books take place during the next couple of years. Still a decade is a pretty decent chunk of time.

The rest consisted of a handful of knights and servants. Knowing most of them leave or die soon I don't bother learning their names.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The journey itself was actually pleasant. I love the smell of the sea although that might be just in contrast to a ship full of unhygienic people. Damn. I'm going to need to grow fast. If only so I can take charge and enforce rules about bathing.

Contrast or not, I still enjoyed it. I also found the rocking of the ship soothing. Maybe after the Long Night I'll become a sailor. Or at least buy a seaside villa.

Arriving at Braavos was a treat. I hadn't managed to get my vision working before we left, but it was fine now. As such I had a spectacular view of the giant statue which I forgot the name of. Really wishing I had read the books more recently. Oh well, my presence alone means nothing I remember can be completely trusted.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I'm one when I began speaking. Twelve months. Twelve long agonizing months of muttering words to myself at night and at Daenerys when the nanny isn't present. An all too seldom occurrence.

I waited until Daenerys uttered her first syllable before I revealed that I could speak. I tried to limit myself, but it's just so hard. I was still mostly trapped inside a tiny unfit body and dependent on others for pretty much everything. My voice is practically the only thing I can control.

Given the bizarre coincidence of the Common Tongue being pretty much English I obviously didn't really need to learn it. Likewise with reading.

Thank god that I didn't frighten anyone with how quickly I learned. Well, anyone important. A few servants were dismissed, but none of the guards were scared of me. Guards were important. They kept me alive. Thankfully they decide I'm a genius rather than possessed. As backwards as this society is, it was a real worry.

Instead they include me in tutoring with Viserys. Babies have an insane learning capacity and I abused it as much as I was able. I tried to learn everything. I had already started picking up the basics of several other language. Now I expanded upon them as well as studied finance, geography, war. Everything I was allowed. I tried to fill as much of my time with learning as I could.

I made a bit of a nuisance of myself with all of my questions. Viserys quickly grew annoyed with me, but I didn't really care. With how he turns out I was already planning on abandoning him when the time came.

Not my sister though. I paid careful attention to her but she didn't display any signs of being as unique as I. Daenerys is very much a normal adorable one year old baby. Maybe a bit clingy. Not hard to blame her since our mom died, but still annoying when I was trying to study.

In the end I made pretty much no progress with my powers. Daenerys didn't like sleeping alone so I settled for reading through the nights.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I was two we moved. Lorath is much more isolated than Braavos and I heard the guards talking about how it'll be easier to defend us here. Daenerys didn't like moving and that first night was terrible. She just kept repeating "I want to go home!".

The servants eventually just gave up and put us both to bed. In desperation I started telling her a bedtime story. It worked, but she decided she wanted one every night. I didn't mind too much. I had read thousands of books in my previous life. It was nice to relax and take the time to remember them.

It was also due to the stories that I finally was able to start experimenting with my powers. As long as I whispered occasionally to her I could leave Daenerys alone in the bed. I still only had limited success there. Any real noise would draw too much attention. The only real experiments I've managed are with wood.

The colder climate meant we had a fireplace in the room. A fireplace with it's own small stack of firewood.

I found I can store wood fairly successfully. Interestingly it converts it into the closest minecraft equivalent item. Kindling if it's large enough becomes a stick. If it's too small it just won't go into the Inventory.

The split logs of firewood tend to become planks or if it's large enough a wood block. Interestingly the item is converted into the precise size the Minecraft equivalent would be regardless of whether there was another material. A block of wood is always exactly a meter cubed. Not sure where the new material comes from but gives me hope for being able to abuse the Infinity Enchantment later on.

I accidentally drop the first wooden block I make when I was trying to measure it. That's when I found out one of the best differences between the game in my powers. When I panicked and grabbed the block I felt an option and was able to store it in my Inventory without breaking it.

It only works with unattached blocks, but it meant I can actually use my Crafting Table without worrying about the noise of breaking it. It's too bad I wasn't able to wander far enough away to actually go mining.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I was three I expanded my lessons into cooking. Part of it was just from homesickness and the variety of dishes there. The cooks loved me and said I had a natural talent for cooking.

Interestingly this unlocked my recipe book. Another mental area like my Inventory it stored the instructions on how to create everything I currently know how to make. I actually see a fair few things already listed I've never made, all of them dealing with wood or the vegetables. I'm going to have to start collecting other materials to unlock the rest of the recipes as soon as possible.

The most important reason was it gave me access to plants. Half my Inventory is now full of various plants and seeds. In the story we end up homeless and starving, begging on the streets. I fully intend to avoid that fate.

I also needed food to heal. Haven't actually tested healing serious injuries, but any scrapes and bruises clear out in seconds. Same with any serious activity such as running. I don't really get tired, but my food meter drains pretty quickly. Clearly I am never going to be a great warrior.

Moving to Lorath had only slowed down the rate of assassination attempts. The ones that did occur were also fairly obvious since visitors tend to stick out. Sadly tutors had also been harder to arrange and my lessons had largely halted.

I couldn't even experiment with my powers. Between Daenerys and the guards I was never alone long enough. The guards I could escape from, but Daenerys knew me too well. She could always find me.

Finally I resorted to bribes. For some reason she loves lemons and thanks to the tree in Braavos I had plenty. I did manage to plant a tree, no use using up all my stock. She still won't leave my side for more than a few minutes though. This could take awhile.


	2. Starting Over

Chapter 2 Starting Over

I was five when our last protector died. Twelve assassination attempts. Willem Darry lived through twelve attacks and in the end he dies from a stupid robbery. The assassination attempts had taken there toll on him and he wasn't getting any younger.

From what I remember the Targaryen children ended up homeless and begging fairly early. It was a distant plot point before, but so much more relevant now.

I can even understand the reason behind the assassination attempts. The meetings we had all be dragged to and shown off in were not the doings of someone who was not an enemy. Also from the snatches of conversation I overheard I was gaining some amount of fame as well, which may have been a factor in the number of assassination attempts.

Oops. Well I knew I'd make waves, just didn't expect any this early.

Still, the fact that I understand the reasons does not keep me from being furious. I also want to wreak horrible bloody revenge on the Baratheons. The past few years had not been fun. No one my age should be able to claim to have survived a dozen assassination attempts. Not even the knowledge of the mess that is Robert's life is enough for me right now.

None of that mattered right now though. If I didn't do something our story will be cut short before it even began. As soon as the group of men had rushed Sir Darry we had all retreated to the room I shared with Daeny.

We're locked in our room right now listening to the robbers argue over whether to kill us or not. Hearing them debate on whether it would be worth it to find out who was sending assassins and selling us drives home a point.

Life here is cheap. There is no justice, there is only power. I had always suspected in my previous life that much of the softer societal norms were just indoctrinated behavior from an early age. Well, looks like I have my proof.

I look over at my siblings. Viserys has surprisingly turned out alright so far. He's still a bit annoying and arrogant, but that was more the fault of the guards talking about dragons and birthrights and other nonsense. Still, he's nice enough towards Daeny. He mostly just ignores me.

And of course these is my sister. Sweet Daeny who is very much an innocent. A bit quiet around strangers, but otherwise normal. She definitely was worth saving.

Well, looks like the time for hiding is past.

I move my writing desk over near the door and place a chair next to it. I'm going to need the height for what comes next. I then move a number of items into my hotbar. A set of nine slots that allow me to summon items directly into my hands, I usually leave it empty. I'm going to need it now.

Sadly I don't have too many items. Two swords and three knives I've managed to loot from the various assassins over the years and one of the guards who had died. Still, it'll have to do.

I take out a sword and hand it over to Viserys. I ignore his questions. It'll make a convincing distraction. Besides, he'd been training for a few years now, it might actually help. Or at least shouldn't hurt. I can hear footsteps, looks like time's up.

As soon as the door is open I'm in motion. I step off the chair onto the desk. A leap and I'm in the air. He doesn't see me, staring at the sword in Viserys' hand. Perfect. Right before I reach him I summon my last sword. Compared to me it's giant, a full greatsword, but I don't have any problems. Thank god for video game physics.

With a solid thunk the sword buries itself in his skull. I loot his sword and advance. I'm small and fast and have surprise on my side. I summon a dagger and bury in someones foot as I dive under the table.

Everyone's cursing and yelling at this point. I look around. Three left, one of them hurt. There were around ten when they broke in. It seems Sir Darry was quite formidable. I breathe a prayer for him.

One of them bends down to reach for me. I dart forward and summon my new sword. The point buries itself in his eye. It sticks but storing it again frees it.

One of them heads towards our room. Time to take a chance.

I sprint forward at the last person facing me. He's wary, taking me seriously. He swings as I get near. I shift my head to the side but otherwise ignore it. The shock of the blow staggers me, but as I hoped there wasn't any real pain. Just a slight irritating, just like any other scrape or bruise. The six health it takes off is manageable.

I feel a surge of energy and glance at my health. Full. I almost stumble in shock. Luckily it seems to have stunned the robber more.

I summon my sword and slash his other leg. In his shock he doesn't even try to dodge. I actually cut his leg off. Going to have to watch that. I might not actually regenerate limbs. Switching to a knife I climb on top of him. He tries to stop me but a quick slash and he can't grab me without fingers. Another cut and he's bleeding out from his throat. One left.

Inside the room it seems he's still fighting Viserys. Clearly he's not skilled. Viserys was well trained, but he's twelve. I don't waste the opportunity. I swing and cut across the back of both his legs. When he falls I step onto his back and stab down.

"Stay back" What the hell? Why is Viserys threatening me?

"Viserys you idiot. I just saved us." Douche.

"What you just did wasn't natural." Really? All that talk about magic and at the first sight of magic he calls it unnatural?

"It's magic you idiot. It's not supposed to be natural."

"No, there's always been something wrong with you. I guess you're finally not hiding it."

What the hell?

It was no use though. Viserys was bound and determined to believe I was some kind of evil demon. That didn't really bother me. What did bother me was Daeny hiding behind Viserys.

Hiding behind him from me.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Screw them.

I tear apart the house, looting everything I can reach. I trail blood everywhere. I spare a moment to wonder if I'd have a better chance convincing them when I wasn't soaking in blood. A bit of it was my own. Not much though. A quick bite and I'd healed right up.

My siblings have long since left. I made them take most of the money. They're going to need it more than me. I'd wish them luck, but they would probably treat it as a curse the ungrateful jerks. They're probably off to buy passage somewhere far away. Doesn't matter.

Screw them.

What does matter though was my experience bar. The few items I had crafted hadn't given me any experience. Killing all of those men did. They gave me a lot. Suddenly I was level 38. Not bad for only four kills. Hopefully this works on more than just people.

I wash myself quickly before making my way to the market. No need to freak out anyone else. With no survivors everyone should still treat me as under to protection of Sir Darry. It should be safe enough for now.

Lorath trades steel swords with half it's trading partners. Thanks to that swords are fairly common. They're also practically another form of currency on the island. Viserys kept the sword I gave him, but still left me with ten.

A quickly constructed furnace had allowed me to melt down all the metal I could find. The Crafting Table is then made an additional four swords. Should be plenty.

It wasn't.

First the merchants apparently only deal in bulk. Second, the goods I want are all intended for sale for cotton, wool or silk, none of which I have. Lastly, because I was fucking robbed.

I wasn't mugged or anything, but this was worse. I approached on of the smaller stall owners and the rich jerk asks to inspect the blades. That was reasonable, but then he demands I leave and claims the swords were always his. What was I going to do, fight off his half dozen guards in public? No, this only had one appropriate response.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

In case I haven't emphasized it enough, on Planetos it's might makes right. Case in point Lorath doesn't have a police force. Indeed the majority of people who live here view taking up arms as beneath them. Even laborers generally get more respect than soldiers.

Instead the island is divided up into areas called Grants. Each Grant is ruled by a powerful merchant or craftsman. They in charge rule their little fiefs with whatever guards they hire from abroad. Assassination is a fairly common practice and since land only changes hands through the government, the guards are more concerned with guarding people than watching for thieves.

Not that thieves have it easy. Thieves are usually killed if not made sport of first. Which is just how pretentious people say torture.

However the important thing is that each Grant is it's own little kingdom and guards from one won't help another. Well, unless it's like a pirate raid or invasion. Which I am not going to count as.

I retreat back to the house. I don't really thing of it as home anymore.

Tearing up the bedding and using my inventory yields plenty of string. Too bad I can't really make any traps. Something to work on later. I do make a pair of bows. Now I just need arrows.

Sir Darry left a few quills, but I still need flint. Damn it. I can flake arrow heads from obsidian if I can find any chips large enough. Looks like I'm going out.

Wandering the docks as a child is much safer than you would think. You're too small to really steal anything important and too young to really be an assassin. The guards usually just ignore you. Usually.

"Well what do we have here? You lost?" Good lord. Heh, maybe honesty will help.

"I'm looking for a tiny piece of dragonglass sir. Can you help me find some?" I try looking innocent. I'm not sure if it works, but then again it's dark. He might not be able to see my expression.

"And just why are you looking for something like that?"

"I'm trying to make arrows so I can go hunting!"

We continue talking until I reveal I don't have any parents. At that point he grins and even I can see it's not nice. Just great. When he grabs me roughly I'm fed up. I summon a knife and start stabbing.

Stabbing in his groin causes him to crouch. It also keeps him from screaming by paralyzing him with pain. Once he bends down I cut his throat.

"Hey!" And of course he had a partner.

I run towards the other guard. "He just started coughing and fell over!"

I try to act freaked out. God I hope this doesn't draw more guards. As soon I'm close enough I leap and draw a sword. Snick. And down, just like a Jabberwocky.

Huh. The adrenaline might be making me a bit loopy. Although this is the second time I ended up covered in blood. Maybe I was in shock the first time?

As I sigh and stare down at the body I notice something. Score! He actually is armed with a bow. Alright, I'm no longer pissed. Even better, I check and they have metal arrowheads. I drop them into my Inventory and hold my breath. Come on, it worked with food before.

And success! I gain the recipe for metal arrowheads. Well arrows with metal heads. An ingot, stick and feather and I get four arrows. And I now have three bows.

I consider the body for a moment and then shrug and try placing it in my Inventory.

Huh. That works. And it granted me several Bones and a lot of Mystery Meat chunks. Well now I know to avoid anything called that in the future. That is so cool. My Inventory automatically processes bodies. That is going to be incredibly useful.

I quickly store the other body before leaving. Time to try out my bows.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Sadly I can't actually start shooting sea gulls yet. But I wander off a bit and setup as I wait for the morning. I scatter about half the Mystery Meat along the isolated stretch of shore and start mining.

I already know there are several differences in how my powers work and the game mechanics functioned. The inclusion of real world physics and my powers is a bit odd. But I need every advantage I can get, so testing. Lots of testing.

My Inventory is made of 27 slots. Same as the game. My hotbar is 9 slots, again the same. The largest difference turns out to be what can fit in those slots.

The default storage is an item or a block. A block is as far as I can tell, exactly one cubic meter. I had already found that my powers will add to a substance to make it fit the slot. After testing I found I can store more than just that.

My powers work on a grid system. Turns out my Inventory sort of does too. I can prebuild sets of blocks, up to two per side, and store the result. I guess it explains the items that are larger than a meter. It also means that with a bit of work I can carry up to eight times as much of some items in my Inventory.

Finally morning arrived. By that point I had dug out quite a large underground area providing me with plenty of dirt and stone to use in my tests. I had quite a decent size complex and only one mishap.

Apparently everything still obeys the rules of physics. Digging out an enormous room underground without any supports caused it collapse. Really glad no one was there to see that. Also glad I didn't learn it while say cutting down a tree. That would have sucked. Instead I just got covered in dirt.

It took hours before the sea gulls arrived and I had to chase off several rats and fox in the meantime. Well, by chase off I mean shoot full of arrows. They took their time but it was definitely worth it.

It took less than five minutes to run through all of my arrows. After collecting everything though I was fairly satisfied. Rats it seems are too small to be processed and just vanished when I tried to store it. The fox gave me a pelt and a chunk of meat. I guess it was too small to have decent sized bones.

The sea gulls are everything I hoped for. Each one when processed dropped around twenty feathers. Like the the fox, they also dropped meat but not bone. I ended up with way too many feathers. Trying to bundle them hilariously gave me a recipe for a feather duster.

It did turn out to be useful though, using up six feathers per along with a stick. Although the stick wasn't recoverable, thankfully all the feathers were. So now I'm carrying several dozen feather dusters.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I have a theory now about my experience bar. It doesn't actually say experience and I don't think it actually represents that. Not that it really represented that in the game. Just like with the priests of R'hllor, I think I'm storing life force.

To test my theory I wander over to a butcher shop. I sit quietly off to the side and watch my energy bar, as I've decided to call it, slowly start filling up. It's nice, but much too slow to really be useful. Now if I can make it onto a fishing boat.

Chasing an idea I followed my nose. The smell was atrocious, but it was worth it. With metal being fairly common, bones weren't something that were really used. But Lorath regularly brought in large animals like whales to render down. They also regularly hunt both walrus and seals.

I had already noticed how there wasn't any imported meat. But what did they do with all the useless bones? They discarded them all in a single dumping ground. I was looking at a small mountain of bones. Enough to grow food for a small country.

I still have several hours to kill before it's dark enough to return. I wander around the docks, looking for a small piece of obsidian I can use. Surely with how often they trade for it they would be some? Nope, so such luck.

I keep an eye out on the merchant who robbed me though. Turns out he actually lives in one of the larger compounds. It takes some time but I finally locate a nice spot. Tomorrow I'll come back for him.

I thoroughly loot the bone pit. I set up a Crafting Table and start converting it directly to bone meal and then bone blocks and then sets of bone blocks. It doesn't help. I have three stacks of sets of bone blocks when I stop and I probably took less than a third of the pile.

I really need a name for the set of blocks. Maybe cube? Crate? Screw it, I'm going to call it a pallet. So three stacks of bone pallets. Eh, it works well enough.

Now it's time to deal with the thieving merchant.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Back in the spot I picked out I take stock of my supplies. Thanks to the discovery of pallets I now have plenty of space in my inventory. Looking everything over I definitely need more food. Or at least I need to set up a source of food soon. Another distraction.

I almost miss the merchant leaving. He's accompanied by eight guards. None of them look up. Pathetic. Not that they would see me. I'm tiny and squashed into a tiny alcove.

My shot is perfect. Right through the throat. No saving him now. Hmm. None of the guards have bows either. Screw it. I fire again taking down the guard trying to drag the merchant away. I aim for his back, intending to dissuade him. I even fire without even pulling it fully back. It still punches deep into him. Through his armor.

Good armor really is rare in this society. I keep forgetting about that. That and how easy it is to kill someone. Too late now. Oh and look, they see me. Oops, some do have bow. I shoot both of them before jumping down.

There is a guard under me trying to climb the stall. I summon a sword and leave it buried in his skull. I take off. I can hear the rest of the guards giving chase. Wonder if it's only because they can see I'm unarmed?

I had prepped an abandoned house just for this instance. I run through the open door and into the hallway. I leap twice over the blocks I had placed and then duck under the last block placed at chest height for an adult. I slide to a halt and pull out my bow.

I can hear the guards swearing as they climb over the blocks. I place myself below the hole I cut in the roof and build a pillar underneath me to reach it. I run back over the roof to the entrance. Only one guard is there, probably standing guard.

I step off the roof, this time pulling out a pair of knives. Heh. I actually managed to halt my fall when I stabbed him. I start shooting before the rest of the guards realize I'm there. One. Two. Thr.. Damn, missed. The last guard ducks behind one of my blocks. I can see him looking around and realizing I had left no escape.

He screams and tries to charge. I almost feel sorry for him. Especially when he trips over the blocks on the ground. And done. Not bad.

I'm kind of surprised there isn't a crowd gawking at the ambush site. I guess people here have a better sense of self preservation. I quickly stuff all the bodies in my Inventory.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

As I munch in roast sea gull I watch the incoming ships. I've been watching them for a week now trying to figure out a way to steal some obsidian. It isn't looking well.

I know they trade for obsidian from the rpg. So far the general information has been accurate. The problem was they don't seem to keep any of it. It's all barter direct shipping. Stowing away seems like way too much trouble.

Hmm. Those aren't merchants leaving the ship. Decent armor, Westerosi accent, is it that time again? Holy crap. That's the Mountain. What's he doing here?

I shadow them, just another street urchin easily ignored. I overhear snatches of conversation. Among them are the words demon child.

Wow.

Really? They actually spread that around? Way to be a douche Viserys.

So over twenty knights and soldiers plus the Mountain. Maybe it's hubris, but I think I can take them. Just need to set up an appropriate ambush site. They'll probably check my old house. Looks like I have a plan.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It's just before dawn when they arrive. I watch with glee as they rushed the door and lawn collapsed. I went with simple and direct. A pit trap, almost twenty feet across and twice that deep. I only get a few of them, but the surprise was the point.

I fire. And watch in disbelief as the arrow shatters on Gregor's helmet. He really is a mountain. Damn. I fire at a few others, but they're all using cover and shields now.

They don't rush the house. They take out some flasks and throw them at the walls. I stagger at the explosions. I notice the walls are burning with green flames. Great. Wildfire. Well I'm out of here.

I duck into the escape tunnel I had dug earlier. Even if they find it and then follow it doesn't matter. It looks like it's time to relocate.


	3. Labyrinth

Chapter 3 Labyrinth

I set sail in my tiny boat for the island of Lorassyon. It's a large island just to the east of the main island of Lorath. It's also where both the Maze Makers and Disciples of Boash went to die.

There are a lot of rumors about the place. It's considered haunted though so very little in the way of facts. Sailors will stop at the shores for water, but no one has ventured into the heart of the island in centuries. To me it sounded perfect.

The only thing I was slightly wondering about was if the descendants of the Disciples of Boash still lived somewhere on the island. People, no matter how uncivilized, were much more dangerous to me than any animal. Well, except maybe dragons.

Arriving at the shore I can see why it was thought haunted. Even now, hours past dawn it's still heavy shrouded in mist. Every sound I make echoes oddly. Also while I can hear the sounds of birds along the shore from further inland, nothing. There is even a faint smell of rot in the air. Still I wasn't about to run away now.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

If anything the rumors hadn't done the extent of the stone maze justice. It was massive. The walls stood about twenty feet high and were basically everywhere. The island stretched out for thirty miles according the maps I'd seen and the maze spanned at least twenty of those.

Twenty miles long and ten wide. This place was insane. This place was perfect. I could see off in the distance the remnants of the wooden keep built by some lord or another. His name was much less important than the fact that it was the only known wooden structure to have survived dragon fire.

The stories say the dragon lords cursed the place to stand forever. It sounded like the perfect place to start exploring.

Exploring the maze by walking along the walls makes it much easier to navigate. Aside from a few melted portions the walls are in amazing condition. It also makes it easier to see a pattern. It's becoming obvious to me that the maze was actually a defensive structure.

There are guard towers scattered throughout the maze. Each perfectly placed to have clear firing lanes down long lanes. The towers all seem to be placed to cover each other. There are shallow pits and walkways at strategic locations. This place is beautiful.

A few things stand out though. The walls were wide enough to balance on so were meant to walk on. But there weren't any defenses to stop someone from just climbing up. What kind of enemies can't climb?

There also doesn't seem to be any ramps leading down despite the rumors of underground levels. Hmm. I duck into a guard tower and check. Yep, the stairs go underground. Interesting.

I'm finally at the keep. It's not much to look at. The walls are terrible scorched and crumbling and it looks like it's partially collapsed. It hardly seems indestructible.

It was only because I was standing there thinking that I heard it. A very faint sound like a footstep. I wait and hear it again. It's coming... from the keep?

I try, but with how quiet it is I fail miserably at sneaking. They have to have heard me, but don't react. When I get to the walls that changes.

I hear a shriek and gaunt figure steps through the doorway. It's human, I think, but has greyish skin and is horribly thin, like a starvation victim. It's features are sharp and elongated, giving it a predatory bird-like look. It's wearing tattered clothing that are matted with blood and dust that might have once been robes.

It reaches into its clothing and removes what looks like a small balloon. The hell is that? It's dripping too. Is that an organ? It throws it at me and I duck out of the way. That's disgusting!

I hear a hiss behind me and my eyes grow wide. The organ had burst and the liquid was steaming. I see an icon appear in my view. Crap, I've been poisoned. What the hell was that?

I see something out of the corner of my eye and reflexively duck. Another organ balloon sails by me and I realize there's another one of these things. I need to get out of here. I hear them both shriek as they give chase.

Holy crap am I glad I have a stack of dirt blocks in my hotbar. I quickly build a pillar under me up onto a wall and run off. They stop following pretty quickly. As soon as I lose them I sit down and eat. That's some nasty poison, it's still going. Finally it runs it's course. What the hell have I found?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I don't seem to have a very well developed sense of survival. I blame it on being a child. As soon as I healed up I went back. For the next few hours I play tag with the creatures in the keep, which I've decided to call hags.

First off. They're tough. An arrow, even in the head, doesn't kill one. Their healing doesn't help either, but that's another thing. Two they're not very bright. They sort of work together, but they don't learn. They also stay within the area marked by the walls of the keep for the most part. They act a lot like undead or construct guardians do in video games.

Lastly, they cheat. That organ balloon? They don't run out. They also seem to be able to control what it does. It's ridiculous all the things they can use it for. So far I've found they can use it to slow me down, poison me, weaken me, burn like acid and heal themselves. I bet that's not all they can do too, the cheating bastards.

I've got their number now though. I built a trap. Mostly just a simple set of wall that lead to dead end I can get out of by building a pillar underneath myself. Since it looks like I'm going to be using the tactic a lot I ended up naming it. Pillar jump. Nice, simple, easy to understand.

The narrow corridor loops though so I can block off the entrance and trap it. If I can trap them they'll be much easier to kill. Hopefully.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The trap works. Sort of.

First I shot at one of the hags. It splashed itself and sped up. Bullshit. But that's fine. Still have a lead. The plan can still work.

I start running down the corridor. I can hear it shrieking. Damn, it's right behind me. Pillar jump out and now I'm slowed. Doesn't matter, only a few steps to reach the entrance. Drop down and fill in the entrance. Done!

Nope.

I hear a splash and the hag jumps onto the wall. Oh come on! That wall was twelve feet tall!

I stumble to the nearest maze wall and pillar jump over it.

...

A few minutes later I return to alter the trap. By that point the hags have both wandered back into the keep. See? Dumb.

I remove the pillar I used and add a roof. If they can break through three fee of stone I'm giving up.

...

Success! I actually trap one.

I decide to trap the second just because. A bit of testing shows they can jump or climb any wall less than fifteen feet high. Just one block short. I hate these things.

...

Killing them is annoying. They heal themselves fairly quickly. I'm reduced to filling them with arrows. It's slow. And painful. Mostly because they sometimes don't heal themselves and attack me instead. But finally I kill one!

Only took an entire quiver. Thank god I can recover arrows.

Well, let's get a closer look at these things. As I roll the body over it's already dissolving. As if it's rotting but time lapsed and no smell. It decays completely, not even bones are left. The body doesn't completely disappear though. A few small piles of powder are left.

I have no idea what they are so put them in my Inventory.

I immediately can feel a number of recipes flooding my brain, more than when I first picked up some iron. I hit the mother load. The powders were two of the most important things I needed. Glowstone for brewing potions. Redstone though. It was useful for almost everything. Powered rails, traps, harvesting. I need to find more hags.

Sadly the other hag wasn't as useful. It died just leaving behind gunpowder. Why gunpowder? I don't really care for TNT, but the brewing option is nice. Maybe I'll make a gun for myself?

Now all I need are diamonds.

I'd include obsidian, but it seems the Scorching of Lorath made that unnecessary. All of the melted portions of the maze walls, those were dragonglass. I bet the former towns that were burned down also contain a good amount. I'm flush with the stuff now.

It was when I was exploring the keep that I decided that I was definitely going to stay here.

I heard a sound like shattered glass. When I looked I saw the air warp and three hags appear next to each other. I barely made it out. On the other hand, I eventually got more powders. Sadly it seems I was very lucky the first time. Two other powders drop and they are much less useful. Sugar might be useful later on but sand is something that's everywhere.

It only seems to take a few minutes to spawn more hags. There isn't always three, it seems to vary between one and three. Eventually I grew a few trees and built a chest just to store the pallets of powders I plan on eventually gathering.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Since the hags never ventured far from the keep I probably should have wondered why the rest of the island was barren of all animal life. I didn't though, which was pretty stupid. In fact I was dumb enough to think the sounds I heard meant everything here was nocturnal.

Not my brightest decision.

I was just lucky the moon was full. If it had been any darker I probably would have died. As it was, it was still close. The fire didn't help.

The sounds of chittering and skittering rose up all around me. I only really paid attention when it started to get near me. When I did I almost panicked.

Giant spiders easily several feet across were flowing out across the maze. It was a flood of crawling death. The spiders were pale and translucent as if they were made of crystal or ice. They were also all coming from the guard towers.

Oh shit. I suddenly realized how much danger i was in. Frantically I pull up my Inventory and start walling myself in. I barely finish before the spiders reach me.

So an interesting fact about placing stone blocks. If you place two blocks next to each other they join together seamlessly as if they were a single stone. However if they are only touching at the corners they don't join. Instead a minuscule gap is left.

The gap is good. I means that I was able to leave a decent gap along parts of the roof so I could breath. What was not good was that it let me see the spiders frantically trying to chew through stone to reach me. At least until there were enough piled up to block the light. Then I just could hear them.

I'm no coward, but there was no way I was going to be able to sit there in the dark listening to a horde of spiders all night without going crazy. I quickly made a furnace and fashioned some torches to light the place.

Sadly torches are not everlasting. They lasted what I estimate were a few hours, but I still had to put up an new pair twice before the night was over. When I could finally make out the gleam of sunlight I wanted to cheer. It was finally dawn!

When the sun rose I fully expected the spiders to all retreat. I couldn't have been more wrong. They continued mindlessly attacking until I thought I was going to have to chance fighting them.

Just when I was done psyching myself up I felt liquid splash over me. Are they spitting poison now? I look up and see water start pouring down through my air vents. The sounds start dying down too.

Are they melting?

By now there was enough light to see and I watched in fascination as the spiders I can see melt. As soon as I can't hear anything I start to make a doorway for myself. I had barely removed the first block when I bit.

A spider had lunged through the hole and into my bunker. I summon a sword and start hacking away at it. It's not doing much damage, but I can feel more poison being injected each time it bites me. Even as I killed it I could see two other spiders crawling through the hole behind it.

I managed to drop a pallet of stone to block the hole. The next few minutes were blur of constant dodging, slashing. I had to take time to eat in order to keep my healing going as well. When I looked around and saw both spiders on the floor melting I was stunned.

I was alive.

After processing that thought I spent a few minutes just relaxing. I sat there snacking as I watched my healing fight against all the poison in my system. I'm pretty sure the only reason I didn't die was that poison can't kill you in Minecraft. As long as I had spent at one health I'm fairly certain anyone else would have tied.

It was while I was relaxing that I realized that the spiders hadn't melted completely. Instead they had left behind a few body parts that looked like they had crystallized. Loading them into my Inventory was an interesting experience.

Spider Eyes unlocked a host of potential brewing options along with a few other recipes. Spinnerets were new, but the recipe showed it was just something that converted into string. Not sure why my powers put in that extra step.

Screw it, I'm fully healed now. I ready myself and once again start to leave my bunker.

This time I'm not met with any attacks. I pillar jump fairly high to get a view and all across the maze I can see the remains of the horde of spiders melting under the light of the sun. Going underground might not be feasible for quite awhile.

I notice that the water is all flowing along the paths and realize that the maze is sloped, letting the water run out into the sea. That has to be deliberate. I guess I know why the maze is so clean now.

I see a few spiders huddled inside the few remaining shadows thrown by some of the walls, but otherwise the maze seemed clear. Seeing that even some of the crystallized parts were slowly melting I ended up racing out to gather as many as possible before it was too late.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I now have mountains of silk. Another addition to the game, four of the spinnerets make silk cloth rather than wool. In the recipes though, silk and wool were pretty much interchangeable. Ironically, I am now pretty set to go into business back in Lorath if I so wished.

I ended up tearing down my bunker and building an actual proper keep. It was a large stone tower set right next to the wooden keep. It was three stories high with a small grove of trees on top and a large garden on the third floor. The second was set aside for storage and I setup the bottom as my workshop with a bed in the corner.

My keep started off as a large perfect square but didn't stay that way. Two of my looping hag traps were incorporated into one side. Then a water collection site using trenches and a small moat. Even if it never rains the morning flood would ensure a steady supply of water.

By the time I was finished I had run out of daylight. I had also pretty much run through the majority of my stockpiled supplies. Specifically the stone and metal. Without a new source I was going to be in trouble.

My keep was thoroughly tested that night. The spiders swarmed across it tearing at every part of it. Thank god I didn't use any doors on the ground floor. As it was I forgot about the roof door and had to block off the top two floors. That was going to be fun to clear out in the morning.

Soon enough the night ended and I cheated. Instead of fighting the spiders I tore down the east wall and let them melt. So much safer.

The next few days were spent resource gathering. I extended the keep, incorporating the remains of the wooden one. That turned out to just need it's own miniature maze for containing and farming hags.

I managed to peek inside the remains of the wooden keep and what I found only raised more questions. Next to a potted mushroom sat a Crafting Table. I also didn't find any kind of spawner block. Not sure what was going on I left the whole room alone. The hags were too lucrative a resource to chance losing.

I ventured out to the site of the one of the closest former towns. Just as expected, it was made of dragonglass. I strip mined the entire area. I went deep too. I had plans of eventually extending the quarry and turning it into a set of docks. But that was for much later.

Dragonglass was much easier to gather than in the game. Even a wooden pickaxe was capable of gathering it. It was also much weaker than normal stone. Just like real obsidian. On that note I even tore down and replaced the sections of the maze that had been converted to dragonglass. They were the only parts to show any damage and I really didn't want any part of my eventual base to look shabby.

I now had a fair amount of obsidian stockpiled and an unlit Nether Portal setup in a fortified location. I really didn't want to use it until I had access to more iron along with enchanting. I might have chanced if if I had potions. However brewing actually required resources from the Nether, so that was out too.

Knapping is a very tedious, boring and most of all slow process. Extremely slow for me since I didn't have much practice. I took hours but I managed to create a recipe for obsidian arrowheads though. I was almost tempted to make obsidian version of other items. Almost.

Now that I was finally set up I found myself stuck. I had plenty of food and almost all of my resources were renewable or at least not anywhere close to exhaustible. The problem was with the resources I lacked.

Iron. So much hinges on having a large and ready access to this metal. The problem is I can't exactly mine down when I know the land below me is containing hordes of ravenous monsters. Lorath is also poor in iron so mining there is also not an option. Anywhere else would basically have me better off moving my entire operation.

Diamonds and leather. I'm going to need both for enchanting. Diamonds, like iron will probably require trading. Leather is something I'm going to need a lot of in the future. I need to find my own source. Looks like I'm heading back to Lorath.


	4. Leaving the Nest

Chapter 4 Leaving the Nest

Thankfully I'm not heading back to Lorath empty handed. I prepare quite thoroughly. First my entire base is sheathed in a much thicker layer of stone. Three feet of stone is hard to get through. Ten feet is better. No one is getting in while I'm gone, regardless of if anyone ever visits.

I switch up the layout as well, moving the farm to the bottom floor. Using slabs I also build narrow water channels from my moat, which has long since filled. Combined with glowstone, the farm is pretty much self contained. Now if I could only automate it.

Sadly that isn't going to be possible. Water doesn't behave at all like in the game. I guess I had to expect it. So far every difference from the game had been beneficial. There had to be something I didn't like.

I stock up on food. A little experimentation and I found I can make Pots of stew. Like the Cauldron they have three servings. It's a bit repetitive, but also means that with a bit of work I can store huge amounts of food.

I'm also not going to be showing up empty handed. Thanks to the spiders I have a couple of stacks of silk. I was a bit annoyed I couldn't create pallets of it, but I'm still bringing quite a bit. I didn't want to process it since that's what Lorath does. Besides I can always do it later if I need to. I should probably pick up the recipe for velvet while I'm back in Lorath since it is famous for it.

I'm also bringing gold. A few days ago I finally lit the Nether Portal. I didn't go through it. No I farmed the zombies. They were each armed with a gold longsword and also dropped a large lump of gold when they died. Since gold is one of the items I can make pallets out of, a single slot is used to bring all I was taking.

As I sail the few miles back to Lorath I realize how empty Lorassyon is. Not even sea gulls nest on the shores. No wonder people think it's haunted. I doubt that will change as long as the spiders are still there. They have started at least showing up ever since I started regularly baiting a few areas so I could hunt them.

My return to Lorath was almost unremarkable. I was just another street rat, easily lost in the crowd as I strolled through town. Almost. It turns out quite a few people paid attention to me, at least enough to take more than a glance at me.

At first I was worried they had discovered my murders. That faded when even the guards did nothing more than look at me. No someone would have done something by now. No there was another reason everyone seemed to notice me.

I was almost at the docks when I found out what that was. Out of the crowd stepped a number of men. They stood out. The way they moved. The accent they addressed each other with. And most of all for the Westerosi armor they all wore.

How the hell did I forget about The Mountain?

Now that I was paying attention I could hear footsteps much heavier than normal rapidly approaching me from behind. So. An ambush. Seeing how even the guards are stepping back there's no help there. The crowds are clearing out so no use trying to hide.

I think for a moment before I find what I need. An alley, only a few feet wide. I darting off towards it. The alley I'm aiming for only has one guard. I wonder how much gold they spent to have the guards actually helping like this?

He doesn't swing his sword. Instead reaching out to grab me. Maybe there's a bounty on me alive? A reward would be much easier than a bribe. Cheaper too.

Doesn't matter. I let him grab me. As soon as he starts pulling me close I summon my daggers. I go wild, stabbing over and over before climbing over his body to enter the alley.

I drop a pillar behind me and smile as I hear cursing. I waited until I was at least a few feet into the alley so hopefully there aren't too many witnesses. Not like I can do much about it right now.

I don't want to reveal my powers. Looks like I need space. As I run through the streets I keep dropping pillars of dirt behind me. It's not much better, but it's a touch less obvious than perfectly cut stone. Too bad I already used one stone pillar. Maybe I can go back and grab it later?

Persistent people. I can still hear them following me. I wonder how they're keeping up? I chance a look back and see the Mountain plowing through my dirt pillar. It causes him to stumble, but not stop.

Well damn.

Screw this. I take a few moments to build a nice thick wall at the next alley. Four blocks high and two deep. Then I start to dig.

It's a long boring process, digging an escape tunnel. I fill in the tunnel behind me and change direction twice. I dig for hours before I feel safe coming up. I don't really know where I am, but I can see the town walls so it's safe to assume I've lost any pursuit.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I don't really feel fatigue. As long as I have food I don't get tired. Besides, there is no way I'm letting them win. So I pretty much head immediately back to town.

I kill the gate guards. Snipe and the first down. Two more arrows and the second as well. Not taking any chances. If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

I take to the roofs. It's evening now and few people bother ever looking up. As long as I'm quiet I should be safe enough.

It seems I'm in luck. Most of the knights are still out searching for me. They aren't doing a great job, but they are patrolling. And fancy that, they're all spread out.

Almost too easy. One of the benefits I thank my powers for is how easy archery is. Just point and shoot. It's closer to a gun than traditional archery. Also makes it much easier to get critical head shots. I kill four knights before someone raises the alarm.

Not like it'll help much. I've chosen my vantage point well. A large flat roof two stories up. I have ready access to other buildings in three directions. A single ladder extends down the back. I stand and taunt them all and continue shooting.

You can say a lot about knights, but they aren't cowards. Although bravery certainly doesn't mean intelligent. They try to climb the ladder several times before abandoning the idea along with three bodies. It's like fighting slightly more intelligent lemmings.

Finally they decide to wait. They take cover but are careful to make sure they can watch me. Doesn't matter. I start shooting all the guards I can see. Bastards are just standing around watching. The arrows convince them to stop.

The knights yell when the guards scatter. Idiots. No mercenary is going to risk his life without a good reason. A bit of gold to catch a child, sure. A lethal archer whose already survived several ambushes? Not a chance, at least without a lot more pay. Thankfully they don't wear much armor. I don't have that many iron arrows.

Finally the Mountain arrives. He doesn't bother with a shield. Like before my arrows mostly bounce off or shatter on his armor. Even the iron arrows barely penetrate. I can't see any blood on the one he bothers pulling out. It was a longshot anyway.

If remodeling my base was good for one thing it was getting practice placing blocks. I found out a block I let go of reverted back to itself. In the case of stone, it was a solid block of stone. Sadly it lost all momentum, but gravity still affected it.

So I wait until he starts climbing the ladder before dropping a pallet on him. The drop is short since I waited until he was almost at the top. But stone is heavy, especially a cube of stone six feet on each side. I'm just sad I can't see his expression when it hits. Then I hear the most beautiful sound. Screams. He's still alive.

Looking over I can see he tried to jump. Didn't quite make it. Looks like his legs are crushed though. I look around, but I don't see anyone. Without their invincible champion it seems the knights all ran.

Hmm. As I stare down at the Mountain I get an idea. He's pretty hated in Dorne. Maybe I can trade his skull for some of the supplies I need? Worth trying at least.

I don't want to get in reach though. Let's try something. I place a Crafting Table down and insert a knife. I add two sticks and nothing. Sad. Looks like I need to store a real spear before adding it to my recipes.

Oh well. I drop down on top of the pallet and drop a pillar on his hips. It doesn't crush him flat, but that's fine. I touch it and store it then drop it again. I'm practically my own siege engine.

It only take two more drops before he's dead and I store his corpse. I take the time to behead him first. As I hoped, storing the head does grant me his skull. Now I just need to get to Dorne.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

One quirk I've found is I no longer have a dominant hand. It seems like such a small change, but it makes a huge difference. I hadn't really thought about it much before. I was left handed in my previous life and still used it most of the time. Other than when using two knives it hadn't seemed that important.

Right now it was incredibly important. I had thought the remaining knights would leave. No apparently they went drinking and then hired a bunch of guards before coming back. They also ambushed me inside one of the stores. Good, I was tired of running.

I shot the first two before they got too close. Then it was all close combat. As they all stumbled around, crowding each other to get to me, I was in my element.

I twisted and summoned my sword at the last second. As soon as I struck I stored it again. I couldn't summon it inside someone, but this was close enough. I tumbled through legs, stabbing around until I was close to the entrance.

I hear a yell about not letting me get away. Idiots. That's the last thing on my mind. I dropped a pillar in front of the door. No one was going to escape.

I summoned a few more pillars and then I was ready. I started jumping around, bouncing back and forth between the pillars. Just like in the game, leap attacks were so much more powerful. A twist while jumping, summon two swords, store them as I land and then repeat. People fall like dominoes.

I felt a little guilty when I killed the merchant. Still, the fewer witnesses the better. I loot everything and remove all the pillars but the one blocking the door. Hopefully that's the last of them.

I cut through the back wall and roof hop around. There are a few guards at the front inspecting the stone pillar. No one else seems to be in the area. Better not take any chances.

I drop off the roof. Two sword swings and I land along with their heads. I wonder if anyone else is open?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO – oooO**

Sadly enough it seems that I now had a reputation. Not sure what kind since no one will talk with me, but probably not a good one. So it was with a sense of frustration that wandered through the town.

This is ridiculous. Even with their assassins all dead King Robert is causing me problems! If I didn't hate him before I do now. He's keeping me for getting access to magic!

Eventually I conclude I was going to have to go with my back up plan. Getting my own ship. I had really wanted to avoid that. Something about being trapped in an endless expanse of water really bothers me.

It took some doing but I eventually find what I'm looking for. Adalard is a merchant fallen on hard times. He has a decent reputation. He just seems to have had a run of bad luck recently. Perfect. So when I found him drinking it was with glee that I slid into the seat opposite him.

"Might you be Adalard Kraemer?"

"A man is known as that." Wow, he was not happy to see me.

"I would discuss a business deal with you." Yeah, even if I wanted him to take me seriously that speech pattern was just annoying. Stupid snobby habits.

"What business would a child have with a man? A man who is a failure of a merchant?" Man is he ever depressed. Maybe I should try talking to him when he sobers up. Screw it, I'm here now.

Right now I'm grateful for the fact that I had looted so many people. I have several recipes for various coins and I used one to quickly make a handful of gold coins. I dropped them on the table before knocking Adalard out and dragging him outside.

My reputation works in my favor this time. No one wanted to get in my way, although that might be because I paid. Either way I was able to drag Adalard outside and into an alley. A few of buckets of water from my Inventory and he was awake, fairly sober and taking me seriously. The sword at his throat may have something to do with the last part.

It didn't take long to come to an arrangement. He was desperate and close to losing his position. Ironically much of his bad luck can be attributed back to me. His brother being assassinated, me. His uncle's shop being destroyed, me again. Several of the guards I've killed recently were also his.

I'm not sure how much he knows is my fault. It doesn't matter though. He needs my money too much to make an issue of it. Our agreement is pretty simple. I rent the use of his ship and crew for a year. They answer to me, sail where I say and ship what I want.

In return I pay him. Mostly in lots of gold, but also in a fairly large amount of silk. I have to hire and pay for any additional crew and have to hire at least two guards. I also have to pay for any repairs if the ship gets damaged.

Once he takes me takes me seriously, Adalard proves to be a shrewd negotiator. It doesn't matter though. I can easily pay everything he asks. In the end we have a deal and I have a ship.

Hiring guards doesn't prove to be a problem at all. My reputation actually helps with that. Rumors of how I survived multiple attacks by slaughtering my enemies were everywhere. Mercenaries like that kind of reputation.

Only one guard attacked me while I was hiring. I had killed his brother or something. I didn't really pay attention to what he was yelling. Rather I watched the reactions of the other guards as I summoned a knife and rammed it into his gut.

They don't seem inclined to burn me at the stake, so I relaxed a bit. I then tortured the man to death while still watching them. Still no protests. Good. I only hire from those who don't flinch.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

In the end I hire five guards. Better too many than not enough. Hell I would have hired more but I was fairly picky. I only wanted guards who had decent armor and looked comfortable in it. Not practical at sea, but it wasn't pirates I was worried about.

The guards were there more to make sure people take me seriously when we arrive at a port. Sometime I curse the fact I'm only five years old.

No, for pirates I have my own special surprise. I was very glad to find that the ship came equipped with a small ballista. It isn't much, but it's perfect for me.

TNT is very easy to craft and best of all can be broken down into sixteen sticks of dynamite. It took a bit of work, but I managed to make my own explosive ammunition. It was pretty simple too.

Take a ballista bolt and remove the head. Then place a bundle of four sticks of dynamite on the end. Use some glue to attach a button. I found cutting the fuse shortens the timer so I just removed them. Instant warhead with contact fuse.

Sadly we don't set sail immediately after that. No, there was normal maintenance to perform. There was also supplies to gather. Good-byes. Charts. Endless details. More than enough to convince me I'm unlikely to ever try sailing without a crew to handle all the details.

At least I didn't really have to worry about supplies. I had plenty of room since I had discovered an amazing fact. In this world chests could be moved! They still couldn't be stored in my Inventory if they contained anything, but being able to fill a chest and carry it was an amazing difference.

I had discovered this amazing fact when remodeling my base. I was so used to how they worked in the game I had never tried to move them before. It makes sense too since both boats and mine carts can have chests. I'm just glad logic won over game rules.

As useful as they would be I not willing to let anyone know about my chests. Instead since I don't really need to worry about hauling cargo I fill most of the cargo space with extra food and water. I have a single chest with extra supplies, but that is strictly for emergencies. No, the ship was officially operating as my personal transport.


	5. A Short Trip

Chapter 5 A Short Trip

The very very small silver lining of the trip was the fact that I wasn't prone to getting sea sick. That was pretty much it.

Sailing is a very slow very boring process. I had avoided it even in my past life. I've always been impatient and liked getting places quickly. There was a reason they called it a cruise.

I miss the convenience of modern technology. Fly to another city in a few hours. Hell, just have it shipped overnight and not have to leave at all.

The one good thing was I had plenty of time to think. I realize that there was no way I was ever going to be able to do everything I needed by myself. I was going to need help.

But first diamonds. I was not going to wait any longer than I had to for magic.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Braavos was just as bustling and lively as I remembered. Pulling into the docks I take four guards with me. Then I head off to the market to buy some diamonds.

My Inventory has a very odd habit of adding material to objects I store until to fits a specific shape. It's obvious my powers don't care about conservation of matter. It's never more apparent when it comes to precious materials.

Gold is what I have the most experience with. Nuggets, as dropped by zombies from the portal, are crude wedge about six inches long. Nine of those can be crafted into an ingot. An ingot is a bar two feet long, a foot across and six inches high. What's even more absurd is nine of those can make a block which is a perfect cubic meter.

What's worse is that I had plenty of time to experiment on the trip. Hacking apart a block of gold into approximately the shape of a number of bars and then storing them _works_. Twenty seven ingots. That's how many I manage to convert my block into. I don't even need the portal for gold anymore.

What's worse is that I'm fairly certain I can do the same with iron or any other metals. All of a sudden metal might be one of my most abundant resources. It was insane.

Gemstones if anything, were worse. A gem needed to be about an inch across for my inventory to store it. The problem was my inventory doesn't use inch size gems. No it directly converts it into a gem over four inches across. And of course the block was just ridiculous. I'm fairly certain a diamond a meter across has never been seen before.

I don't stay in Braavos long. I had a spare thought of looking for my siblings, but there was really no point. I had no idea where they had sailed off to. They might not even be in the city.

My trip was productive. I ended it mostly just annoyed at myself though. I really should have realized how I could exploit my powers sooner. I also might have set up some gem merchant for life. After buying a few stones I found a store that specialized in selling stones. It was a smallish establishment. The larger ones seem to focus on jewelry.

I trades a small bag of my converted stones for enough samples to manufacture blocks of most gems. In the end I had to make a quick trip back to the ship. There were more types of gemstones than I had realized. He even had metal wire so I was able to get some new metal samples as well. I ended up building an large chest in my cabin to store them all.

In hindsight, openly buying large amounts of small easily transportable valuable items. In a world as lawless as this one I don't know why I never expected my own guards to turn on me.

They waited until well after dark. A short charge with a piece of timber smashed the door and they all rushed in. Despite the rumors and my demonstration they still saw me as just a kid. Idiots.

Normally they would just be stopped by the pillar of stone I set behind the door. This time I removed it. I could clearly see their preparations through my window. Just because I didn't have any lights doesn't mean anything. I have excellent night vision and more than enough time to prepare.

Raw materials weren't the only thing I bought in my trip. I now had recipes for a fairly decent array of weapons not to mention several types of armor. I had wasted no time crafting myself a set of gear. I could even cheat with it a little.

I don't seem to register discomfort. Heat, cold and other sensations are felt but they're muted and never enough to really bother me. As such I went with the maximum amount of protection without worrying about such things.

I now have a decent set of plate mail that I was wearing over a layer of chain and padding. It restricted my movements a little, but didn't slow me down any. I eventually want to have a custom set of layered armor designed, but this is plenty for now. With what I have I'm fairly confident I can slaughter the entire crew by myself if need be.

It may come to that too. I can clearly see most of the crew standing by and watching. I make sure to memorize their faces.

As soon as the door goes down I pull the lever. A dispenser sprays out arrows through the door. I have time to go back to the window and watch most of the guards cut down before it ends.

It's not a fight. Even the guards who aren't dead are wounded and demoralized. My new range of weapons also makes me insanely lethal.

I stab out with a long spear that flickers in and out of my hands. When one guard stumbles too close a greataxe lets me split him in half. Screams of demon fill the night as I finish off the last of them. I don't think the crew realized how pissed I was until I shot the first sailor.

Then the crew ran. Most went overboard to try to swim back shore. We haven't really sailed far, more pulled back to anchor off the docks. If I was worried about arrows they might have made it too.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The next morning I go through the ship. Not all the crew died. Some hid and several just waited. I make sure to execute all the ones I recognized. Given the looks I doubt I'll have problems from the rest.

As annoying as it is, I have them head back to Braavos. With half the crew dead I need more sailors if I'm going to continue my trip. I'm pretty fed up with sailing by this point though. I'm definitely going to cut my trip short.

I spend way more than is prudent and don't really care. I buy breeding pairs of a large number of animals. I manage to find all the ones from the game that I care, mainly chickens, cows and sheep. I also buy a number of animals I'm willing to take a chance on such as ducks, geese and goats.

I even manage to pick up a bee hive. Thankfully, unlike the other animals, I can store an Apiary in my Inventory. Not quite sure why although I can store eggs as well. Maybe it has to be unthinking?

I pay to send a letter to Dorne. If they want the Mountain's head they can come get it. There was no way I was going to sail that far anytime soon.

I lucked out when hiring a blacksmith. I found one newly traveled from Qohor and looking to set up. Competition is fierce in a city this large and famous.

I bribe him outrageously to move to Lorath for a single year. It'll easily be enough to get him started when he returns. If he actually wants to leave at the end of a year.

I promise to pay him quite a bit for each project I have for him. I have so many ideas. Not to mention I need a way to break down blocks of iron into bars. I know it'll probably involve melting and casting and that's about it. I wouldn't mind keeping him working for me for decades.

The last thing I do is buy a small fishing boat. It isn't great, but it has more than enough room to transport my animals after I get to Lorath.

I don't bother hiring any guards. It's crowded enough on the ship with the animals. The blacksmith promises to take the next ship. I don't really blame him. If I trusted anyone else to ship the animals, I'd have them shipped separately as well.

It's fairly obvious people have heard about the rich kid on a ship without any guards. No less than three ships attack as soon as we leave the bay. The crew were scared, but they were much more frightened of me. They dropped anchor as ordered.

I waited until the first ship approached. It was smaller than the others and reminded me of a viking longboat. When it was less than a hundred feet away I firing. Didn't want to miss the first shot. It was historical, the first time gunpowder is used in naval warfare.

I laughed madly as it tore the front of the ship apart. The would be pirates, loaded down with weapons and armor, sank like stones. Less than a minute later I fire again obliterating the rest of the ship.

The other two ships start to turn around. It's too late. The ballista has a range of hundreds of yards. I only cripple the second ship before turning on the last. There was no way I was going to let them escape.

I don't even try to be conservative. I had stocked for a much longer trip and now there were piles of explosive ballista bolts just begging to be used. Long after all the ships were destroyed I keep firing.

I took to using them to snipe the few survivors who were trying to swim away. Even if I missed the explosion usually killed them.

The crew were properly terrified of me after that. The trip back was hard, but they were definitely motivated to get back.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When we did get back I didn't waste any time. I had them start loading everything I cared about in my boat. I couldn't wait until I could sleep away from the animals. They were just so noisy.

I do visit Adalard briefly. I hand him a small bag of coins as soon as I see him. "I have a blacksmith arriving soon with his family. I want you to help him set up. Nothing fancy, but a little aid is appreciated."

He hefts the bag. "And the rest of my payment?"

I notice a number of men making their way closer. Really? "For?"

He sneers. "The ship. You promised to pay for repairs as well as protect the ship. Instead you kill half of my crew! I think a few gems would cover everything nicely."

Freaking spies. Even out here you can't escape them. Also, screw this. And him.

With only a pause my armor is equipped and I'm armed. He tries to protest, but the armed men surrounding us means I don't care. Even if he was just trying to intimidate me it's too far.

I stab him and draw my bow. The guards had hung back giving me time. I shoot two before they're too close. Summon a spear and brace and another impales himself.

I twist and lash out. My greataxe cleave through three guards. I can hear the squeal of metal and feel impacts, but my health is staying constant. I swing twice more before the rest start running.

Screw hiding. I need people to _fear_ me.

I shoot another two I the back before the rest are gone. I don't hide it then I load all the bodies into my Inventory. I then march up to his family compound.

The gates are closed but one exploding ballista bolt takes care of them. Throwing them isn't very accurate, but it's not really a small target. Guards were behind the door judging by the pieces I find.

Another bolt destroys the front door. Once inside I ignore everyone running away. I don't care about killing them. This was a statement. I scatter all of the explosives I have and leave. The buildings here are just adobe and wood. The explosion levels the compound.

There was a delegation waiting for me at the docks. Between the sailor's tales and my demonstration they were finally taking me seriously. They wanted to talk about me plans.

I think I was pretty reasonable too. My plans were simple. I wanted to do some trading. No trying to cheat me. No assassinations. Or I kill everyone and try again. Oh and help the blacksmith setup shop when he arrives. Maybe move him into the compound I just cleared outs.

I thought I was being reasonable. They didn't. One of them even started screaming at me, which just gave me a headache. So I gave him one. With a spear.

That I think did it. They were suddenly all sickly polite and fake nice after that. God the people here suck.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Setting up my new farm turns out to be very straightforward. I just built a large stone enclosure for all the animals. A set of irrigation ditches and some glowstone, instant self-contained farm. I fenced it off a bit mostly to limit overgrazing. Although bone meal should take care of that.

Sadly, breeding animals is not at all like the game. I can get them to mate, but I waited an hour and none of them gave birth. Even the chickens I hatched from eggs I stored acted real life chickens. Looks like the normal slow way it is.

This is going to set back my plans significantly. I need leather to make books. I need books to store the random enchantments. Without that everything becomes hideously expensive process of trial and error. Plus I need books to boost the power of the enchanting table.

I am now in the position of being able to enchant and not willing too. It's an annoying realization that I messed up. Really need to secure a source for leather now. Bone as well, that pile isn't going to last forever at the rate I'm using it.

What a second.

I vaguely remember seeing some old bibles with ivory covers. DnD also had metal covers. Hell modern books are something like wood and cloth. It shouldn't be too hard to get a recipe for something besides leather. Books are a bit rare right now though. I just need to find a large enough market.

Damn it. That means I need to go back to Braavos.

Before I do I need to figure out how to get everything I need. I'm not sure what an Arcane Workspace is, but it unlocked with the Enchanting Table and I'm eager to make one. Anything whose description includes the phrase 'your Targaryen birthright' is bound to be useful and powerful. The problem is it requires four blocks of dragon bone. I should also try to pick up something made from Valyrian Steel. The recipe for that material would be insanely valuable.

Several devices I have ideas for I might need to travel to Myr to have made. I should probably also wait for the blacksmith. No point buying anything he can just make.

Actually I might have an idea on how to obtain dragon bone blocks. Westeros has a set of dragon skulls that are currently just sitting in their storage rooms. King Robert also hates anything to do with dragons. He's also currently massively in debt.

It is really fortunate that gold is soft enough I can cut it myself. It's currently the only metal I can endlessly cut into ingots and convert back into blocks. It does mean I can afford to work through the Iron Bank though.

While I'm at it there are a few other resources I think I want. Weir wood doesn't rot, making it ideal for when I eventually build my own ships. Thinking about it there are several woods that I could use for craft or eventual trade. I might as well order cuttings or saplings from everything just in case.

Checking for any edible plants I missed might also be a good idea. You can never have too much variety. Oh, seasonings. Definitely need to get plants for that.

Thinking about resources has me realize there is a solution to my bone meal problem. I just need seashells. Hell, seaweed might also work. I remember seaweed wrappings being used on cuttings and mulch. And glass, but that's a whole other thing. Besides Crafting ignores lots of smaller material components for what I make.

Damn. Just realizing how many edible plants actually existed makes me tired. It's going to take forever to build farms for everything I want.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It takes less than a week for the blacksmith to arrive. I also found out his name. I was glad Locke Cason didn't take any offense to that. He was more than eager to get settled and start working. He had apparently used much of the gold I gave him to purchase tools, most of which I didn't recognize.

The first order I placed with him was the most important. I needed a fairly compact furnace in which to melt or cut down a block of metal into separate ingots. Obviously I couldn't give him much metal, but I did leave him a single block so he knows what he's working with.

Patience is not my strongest suit. To speed things up I paid for a number of helpers to aid him than arranged for him to take two apprentices. It wasn't hard. Even in place as small as Lorath there are poor and homeless people. All of them were more than happy to have work.

Another arrival proved just as beneficial for me as the blacksmith. A leviathan was caught. It's a fairly common occurrence, but I had never been actually present for the event. Seeing the giant whale being butchered was an interesting sight. It also gave me an idea.

I already knew the bones were discarded. What I didn't know was that most of the skin along with the organs were as well. It seems the meat wasn't valued either. During the processing the poor clustered around and helped out with fetching and loading. In return they were allowed to take as much of the meat as they wanted.

I hadn't realized there were that many poor in Lorath. If people were desperate enough to work for food than I could use a few of them. Seeing them living inside one of the warehouses explained it.

Free shelter and worthless meat was an incredibly cheap price for workers. Since processing a whale doesn't need steady or skilled help it was an ingenious solution. A few guards were there but overall no one seemed willing to lose their position.

I flipped a gold coin to one of the guards to leave me alone as all this was going on. Besides the workers, the skin could be perfect for me. A bit of testing with the discarded materials and I had to control my reaction. No sense giving away how valuable this was to me.

A square about a meter per side converted into a piece of leather in my Inventory. Anything smaller yielded a small hide instead. Small hides only could be converted into normal hide so smaller pieces were definitely not as valuable. Anything less than a square foot just didn't convert.

With these findings it was with great excitement that I arranged to collect all that lovely unwanted skin for myself. Truthfully it was pretty easy. The merchants as a collective share the cost of the warehouse since they all make use of it. I merely paid a fair share of upkeep and had to make a deal with some of the people sheltered there.

Sure they tried to have me buy the skin. A summoned spear through the throat stopped any talk of that though. It also made me laugh to be able to ask him "You were saying?" after stabbing him. No one else laughed. I think my sense of humor is going off. I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have found that funny even a few weeks ago.

I patiently explain they aren't losing anything and in fact are saving some money since I'm going to help pay for the warehouse. After that they might have even given to me for free, but I wouldn't have it. No use cheating them and making enemies after all. Well more enemies.

They all rush to agree and just like that, I had my own source of leather. I promptly drop off several thousand gold coins and declare my share paid for the next ten years. I already calculated it and it was more than enough. Hopefully that stops them from bothering me.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I find a fairly desperate poor family to hire. Matilda Barnes lost her husband a year ago. Without anyone to provide for them her and her two kids were soon homeless. Frankly I was surprised they were both still alive.

For a moment I wonder if how similar their ages are to my own siblings might have played a part in their selection. It still makes great motivation though. I explain the deal.

If any leviathans or whales are butchered, they don't work for meat. Instead they help skin it and cut it into chunks. They store it in the shed I made. Every week I'm going to drop by. I'm going to collect the skin and drop off food. I'll drop off food even if there isn't any skin so they damn well better make sure they help skin every whale that shows up.

I then show them the storage shed I made. It's a standard minecraft building, walls three feet thick. Simple. To keep the smell down I actually built a basement for actual storage. Distance and multiple door should help keep it down.

I was surprised when she asked if they could live in on the ground floor. It's kind of empty and is going to smell horrible but I don't really have any problems. Hell, this might work out better.

I don't want to really give them anything that'll make them a target but some cloth should be fine. I don't have any wool, but I do have plenty of silk and leather. I drop off a small pile of each. That should let them survive the cold nights.

I really need to set up some kind of signal between the islands. Maybe I can build a second floor to house some ravens?


	6. Under the Sea

Chapter 6 Under the Sea

It still was going to take way too long so I went back to what I've taken to thinking of as my island. I occupied myself with expanding my farm, expanding outwards as well as building a second floor. Along the coast is where I made the greatest changes.

I cut deep into the cliffs and reshaped much of the shoreline near my base. Long shallow beaches with wave breaks and tidal pools now filled most of my view. I spent quite a bit of time replanting seaweed and clams everywhere. At low tide there were several acres of tidal farms. Raised walkways stretched out like a spider web and allowed me to survey everything. They also had a more sinister purpose.

I was taking no chances with my safety. The spiders actually melted when they encountered water. However they were also my best deterrent right now. The walkways allowed them to reach much further than they could previously. Any ship that pulled to shore would have hundreds of feet to flee to reach safety.

They proved their worth only a few days after I started building them. It was near midnight when I first heard screams. Screams I could hear through my ten foot walls. That has to be close and loud.

I noted them and waited. No way was I going out to investigate. I was nowhere near ready to face a horde of spiders. I'll deal with them in the morning.

Bright and early I broke out armed and armored, ready to face almost anything. I didn't find any enemies. Instead I found bodies. Piles and piles of bodies all torn apart. Looks like the spiders didn't leave much.

From the gear they all seem to be guards from Lorath. After combing the area I finally found a pair of survivors. They were practically insane with fear and stuck in a boat a mile out to sea without any oars. Best of all, they were also in the same armor.

It was easy enough to fetch them. They were pathetically grateful to be rescued. Even by me. They told me everything.

It seems the fact that I kept traveling to Lorassyon and back took much of the dread out of it. Coupled with how much money I was throwing around and it looked like a tempting target. Several of the merchants had pooled together some of their guards and sent them to kill me and loot the island.

They had arrived late and made camp. And then the spiders came. The guards pretty much were reduced to ranting and shivering at that point. Pathetic.

Since they had nothing left to tell me I killed them. Having the guards just disappear will be much scarier than any ravings from survivors. Besides it'll be hilarious to show up in a few days without and pretend I never met the guards. I can't wait until it's time for my next visit.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Two days later I went back in Lorath. I strolled into town right on schedule and pretended I didn't see all of the terrified gazes. This really is hilarious.

First I visited Locke. He was being harassed by a few people asking for things. The worst part. He was helping them and not working on my project. Fuck that. I immediately stabbed the first person I reached. He's my blacksmith. Go find your own.

He was visibly relieved to see me. He was probably scared his employer had died. Hopefully he'll know better next time. I tell him to try not to let himself get distracted again. We didn't really exchange many words.

Locke wasn't the most sociable of people. He was much more concerned with his craft than socializing. Which makes for a great employee, but a terrible source of conversation. So it was with the Barnes family I looked for the latest gossip.

"Milord." Heh. I didn't ask her to call me that. Wow and does she look happy to see me.

"Matilda! So what have you heard?"

"They're calling you a demon now. A whole company of guardsman went out three days ago. I was worried I'd have to leave the shed. But none of them return. No one bothered us after that." Ha! Called it! Fear of the unknown for the win.

I grin. This is just perfect. "Do you know which merchants sent the guards?"

"They all left. Set sail yesterday or this morning when you were first spotted." She was practically cringing. Really? I don't shoot the messenger. I wonder if that's a thing here. Wouldn't surprise me.

Meh, I don't really care. I head into the shed to drop off the food and pause. Wow, the stench is really strong. Yeah, I can't leave it like that.

It only takes a few minutes to alter the shed. I move the entrance to the storage basement over one space and set the entrance with a separate door. There, no need to track the skin through their living area now.

Matilda is a bit worried when I start working and very grateful when I finish. Her children though are fascinated by me. A much better reaction than my siblings. Not being covered in blood probably helps.

Trent, her oldest child, was nine and thankfully wasn't like Viserys. He was very serious and already very much concerned with providing for the family. I was toying with the idea of apprenticing him to Locke in a year or so. It wouldn't be quick, but he seems like he'd be reliable.

He was bit scared of me, but I'd probably be more worried if he wasn't. I did have a fairly terrifying reputation right now. One that didn't matter to his little sister. Then again she was only four.

Moira was very sweet. I'm not sure how she was so cheerful, but it was a refreshing change. She took to me very quickly and asked me endless questions while I was altering the shed. She seemed fascinated by my powers.

I found it hard to be annoyed with her. She reminded me too much of Daenerys. It was also because of her that I started visiting more often. I'd bring a cake each time. It wasn't like I was using the sugar for anything else. It was nice being around someone who wanted me there.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I'm not the patient sort. Taken together with the fact that I seem to have capped how much energy I can store, is it any surprise I started experimenting. Besides it seems I can only store 100 energy levels and I was full. Waiting any longer would be a waste of resources.

Using my new source of leather I start with helmets. There is a specific enchantment I was looking for. It only takes three tries to get it too. I keep going though. I recorded my findings on wax tablets since paper still is a problem for me. Wax though is easy enough with all of the bee hives I have.

Apiaries only really need flowers to flourish. Cutting sod without my powers is annoying but gives me grass. A bit of bone meal and instant flower garden.

Slowly but surely I'm managing to actually translate the odd language the enchantments are listed in. Hell at this rate I might even need a large stockpile of books. Probably still will though if only because of the energy level cap.

The enchantment I was trying for was Respiration. I'm not sure if it was game mechanics or not but I found I can hold my breath exactly one minute before taking damage. My health ticks down very quickly after that minute too. Two points every second. Thank god for the clock recipe.

Unlike in the game Respiration adds a full minute before I start losing health. It also slows my suffocation speed down to one point every three seconds. The best part is every level increases those times by another minute and three seconds respectively. At level three I have almost seven minutes before I drown.

Sadly I ran out of energy at that point. I had really wanted boots that improved my swimming speed. I still had plenty of leather. The beginning of my enchantment language translation should help there. I also brainstormed on how to gather more energy. There has to be a way to make use of all the spiders.

The next morning my planning pays off. It was much easier than I had thought it would be. I just waited until water started pouring into my moat before leaving my base. Between the sun and my armor I easily survived long enough to gather enough energy.

Sure I still a ton of damage but pain was a very small price to pay for more magic. I didn't even wait to finish healing before going back to enchanting.

One pair of Depth Striding boots and I could now swim as easily as I can walk. Interestingly it seems all of my enchantments go up to level five since both Respiration and Depth Striding kept increasing until then. Depth Striding at five actually makes me faster swimming than on land.

I was now ready to really expand my tidal farms. Instead of a hundred feet I plan for them to stretch a thousand. I also plan to extend how much of the shoreline they cover. If nothing else the farms will prevent ships from getting too close.

It was while I was doing so that I found another item from the game. A Sea Lantern. It sat there on top of a small tower made of Prismarine. There weren't any Guardians there, but the tower did have a storage room.

Oddly enough the tower seemed to relatively free of sea life. No sea weed or barnacles grew on it and other than a few puffer fish creatures seemed to avoid it.

The most interesting thing about the storage room was not what it stored, but how it stored it. Chests. Chests like mine. Someone else with minecraft powers made this room.

I of course looted everything. Most of chests were filled with Prismarine blocks. The chests themselves were also made from Prismarine. It was a nice recipe since my normal chests burst if submerged.

The chests all seemed to store the same thing. Spawn Eggs. They looked like they were made of coral too. When dropped they all spawned the same thing, large undead starfish. They behaved remarkably like the spiders save for a few key differences.

Unlike spiders, a starfish obviously can survive underwater. If fact they seem to slowly lose health outside of water even at night. Sunlight kills them very quickly. They also didn't seem to drop anything except bones. If I ever find a way to generate them I'll never run out of bone meal.

Sadly I also can't control them. As soon as they pop up they attack me. They also don't attack each other. The spiders though, will actually ignore me to attack the starfish, which is interesting.

Checking around the island shows me something interesting. Every entrance to the maze is directly facing one of the towers. Considering the towers seem like outposts it seems the Maze Makers really were at war with something underwater.

I thoroughly harvest all of the outposts. If whatever made them does return, there's no sense making it easy for them. I can even see more faint lights further into the ocean depths. I just can't do anything about it yet. I really need water breathing potions.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It took a few months, but I finally had enough metal. I had been putting off my trip back to Braavos until I knew whether Locke would work out. If he wasn't good enough I was also going to have to find another blacksmith. Fortunately the waiting paid off.

The first two version of what I am already called the iron fount project were rejected. They were too large and complicated. I needed something fairly compact and simple. Something I can store in my inventory. Anything more that about six feet per side just wouldn't fit.

The third version was better than what I was aiming for. Based off my vague memories of the Bessemer steel making process it was very precise. A large metal barrel furnace six feet wide and tall. It had a valve for air intake which required it's own device. I'm thinking of using a watermill to run a turbine.

Instead of one block it could melt down two at the same time. It would then tip over to pour out the steel into a mold. The mold was a another device, but thankfully one I could get a recipe for. Even better it was made from adobe so was incredibly easy to make. There was some material waste, fifty ingots was more than enough for me. I would have been happy with half that.

The best part of the newly dubbed Metal Fount was that it converted the iron into high quality steel. The best steel currently used is Castle-forged steel. It's also very expensive. Although that probably has to do with the process.

Castle-forged steel was a very long complicated process to make. Iron is melted down in large pots, formed into ingots then slowly heated with charcoal. Finally it is broken into pieces and melted down again in much smaller pots. Each step is slow and uses loads of fuel.

I'm not sure if a normal Bessemer furnace would be this much cheaper, but the converted version my powers create doesn't use that much more fuel than a normal furnace. This is so much better I'm seriously tempted to kill Locke to keep the secret to myself.

Of course I'd have to kill all of the workers and apprentices too. And anyone else who might have seen and understood what he was working on. And people he might have mentioned it to. Or wrote to. Yeah, it's probably too late already to stop it from spreading.

I also have no doubt there are any number of spies in town, all interested in what I am doing. On that note I start mentally dividing my projects. There are several I definitely want to make sure only I have possession of for at least a few more years.

I pay him well, more than enough to start up back in Braavos. Thankfully he doesn't seem inclined to leave just yet. I leave him with designs for a seed drill and plow. Given how my powers I should be able to push the result by hand. Automation here I come!

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I had put it off, but it was now time to head back to Braavos. This time I cheated. I took my own ship. I didn't have to worry about crew or supplies and since I don't need to sleep I can sail all night. Combined with the fast that my boat was actually faster I made very good time.

A journey of over 300 miles, which took the rented ship four days, only took me less than one. Roughly twenty hours after I left I pulled into the port in Braavos. That wasn't too bad. Or at least not nearly as bad as I had been afraid of.

Once I pulled it I headed strait for the market. I had an idea while sailing and didn't want to forget about it. I bought a very large selection of musical instruments and other tools. I was just glad I had emptied most of my Inventory for this trip.

While I only really cared about the brass instruments the rest might be useful later. Better to have than not. I also ended up buying a Myrish crossbow because of another idea I had. So many projects and so little time.

To the guards at the Iron Bank I probably presented a comical image. A small boy carrying a crossbow the same size as himself. They were professional though. Once I proved I had money they let me right in.

The contract I set up was very straight forward. I was willing to pay off half a million gold stags in return for the skull of Balerion the Dread. My name would be kept completely out of the deal. It was going to be presented as the Iron Bank willing to forgive part of the debt in return for fancy decorations. An additional offer for any other dragon skulls might be made after a listing made of their size.

I ended up paying most of the money upfront in return for the contract. Since they are so heavily based on their reputation I wasn't really worried about it. The rest of the day was spent filling out paperwork. I'm definitely going to need a secretary.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Once I return I'm glad to find Locke finished with already. I actually thought the seed drill would take longer. Still, I'm very happy. I immediately give him another project. I call it the Windlance.

Unlike the scorpions currently used, the Windlance is going to be the pinnacle of siege engine technology. Instead of basically oversized crossbows, mine will be based off the roman ballista.

I'm not going to use ropes and wood though. Cost had been a limiting factor in their model. Mine won't have that limitation. Wound steel cables along with coiled springs would provide the power. More steel to strengthen it.

I intended to improve the Windlance with more than just materials. A compound draw, based off the bow, was used to increase power. A reverse draw set up would also allow the design to fit within my space limitations without sacrificing power.

The reloading feature of a Polybolos was incorporated and allowed it to be crewed by a single person. I even partially managed to add some of the design features from the Myrish crossbow. Mine was limited to only firing two bolts at a time, but that was due to lack of room to fit more than two ammo hoppers.

When finished the Windlance should be the envy of engineers the world over. Firing the specially designed iron bolts it would vastly outclass scorpions in both range and power. My only regret is this will pretty much be the pinnacle of what I can make. I am never going to be able to craft anything larger such as trebuchets.

I also planned some kind of casing to disguise as much of the working as possible. If anyone wanted to copy my weapons they would have to work for it. Even then I was betting it would cost as much as a hundred normal scorpions to make even one Windlance.

I aimed to completely dominate the technological arms race on this world. Already more plans were forming in my mind.


	7. Hell and Back

Chapter 7 Hell and Back

A chance discovery would make my beloved Windlance even more lethal. I came across it right after my trip to Braavos. I had bought a huge array of tools and instruments and only really paid attention to my Inventory to see if I still had room.

It wasn't until I got back and started unloading my haul that I realized just how much I had bought. It was way more than the thirty-six spaces I had available too. And that is how I stumbled upon a whole new category of incredibly useful items, containers.

The tool belts and harnesses actually acted as packaging and made the entire set of tools count as a single item. Even better it inspired me to experiment. After all, chests aren't the only way to store items in the world.

In the end I found two new items. Doubtless there are others, but I'm satisfied with the two I discovered. The first was a money pouch. It actually had four slots, each able to hold a stack of coins. It was convenient.

The second discovery was the best. Quivers. A quiver, like the money pouch, had slots. It only had three, but each could hold a stack of arrows. The best part was I could build a quiver in an ammo hopper. My Windlance was never going to run out of ammunition.

Sadly there were limitations. Neither could be stored while holding anything so my brand new archery kit didn't work with them. Still, it was a small price to pay because with the quiver I finally felt ready to brave the Nether.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I made sure to sleep in a bed before unblocking the portal. I don't know if I can actually respawn, but no use taking chances. I'm a bit nervous since my first plan had already failed.

I wanted to build some iron golems to protect me. The problem was I couldn't. Four blocks of iron and a pumpkin later and nothing. Just an odd shaped set of blocks. I really hope the Arcane Workbench has it listed under there. Not really sure what else could be there.

Standing there in front of the portal I make one last check of my equipment. I have several melee weapons and two bows, all enchanted in my hotbar. I also have a stack of food and cobblestone. I even have a shield. It's neat being able to pop out a shield when I wanted. Still a bit sad each hand didn't get it's own hotbar. I guess the lack of restrictions on worn gear made up for it.

I was wearing my usual set of plate and chain armor. I also had a quiver at each side. I wanted one on my back but I just wasn't tall enough to use it comfortably. Like my weapons, everything I wear is enchanted.

Bracing myself I step through.

From a first person perspective the warping of the portal is really disorienting. The world seems to twist and shudder. I am really glad I don't get motion sick.

My first impression of the Nether is that it's hot. I guess it makes sense since water evaporated in the game but I hadn't really thought about it. After all you can walk next to lava and even carry it in buckets in the game.

Well the Nether is hot. Even with my resistance to basically everything I can feel it. My second though was something along the lines of thank god I'm not floating in mid air. Not being attacked was also a good thing.

Oddly enough I seem to be in a hallway. I'd think I was in a nether fortress but everything was still netherrack. I don't waste much time. Seeing the coast is clear I dig up the floor, walls and ceiling.

I expand it a bit, but soon enough I had a nice fortified cobblestone room. A glowstone lamp ensures nothing spawns inside. I'm not crazy enough to chance using a bed but I do create a few chests. This should work as the start of my new base. Like the Romans I intend to periodically build fortified areas as I explore.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

For now though I retreat. I already realized a few things just from my brief incursion. First, I need to make sure everything I have is fireproof. My quivers already looked a bit scorched. The second was that I was going to need a lot more resources. I already used two stacks of cobblestone. I forgot how much I normally go through when I conquer the nether in the game.

I exit the portal and immediately am face to face with a zombie. Reflexively I lash out. Fighting a zombie in close quarters is much worse than a human. They don't have vital spots and pain doesn't bother them. I take several hits before I manage to cut him apart.

Ok, so securing the other side does not stop zombies from spawning from the portal. Good to know I guess.

It takes two days to fix my equipment and gather more supplies. There is no way I'm running short again. Most of that is just because I had to wait for another wave of spiders to refill my energy levels.

On the other hand I wouldn't say my time wasn't productive. Netherrack is amazing. In the game it's mostly a fragile dirt-like block that occasionally turns into a fire hazard. It's only real use it to make Netherbricks.

Right now one it it's more annoying properties is perfect for me. Netherrack can easily be set on fire and never stops burning. It doesn't consume any fuel and nothing less then submerging it will put it out.

Unlike in the game I can break blocks up into smaller chunks. Conveniently, after converting a piece I gained a recipe to convert a block of netherrack into nine chunks. Less than if I do it by hand but so much faster.

I wasted no time experimenting with it. I now have candles, torches and lamps that never go out. I was even able to replace the fuel source of a Furnace and Metal Fount with netherrack. This is almost better than magic, this is a source of unlimited energy! This opens up so many possibilities.

I was so excited I almost didn't want to go back. Two things convinced me otherwise. The first was that my smith was busy and I had already given him a list of projects to work on. Most of what I was thinking about would take an actual workforce to put together. The second reason was that I was out of netherrack.

When I entered the Nether this time I was fully prepared. Entire stacks of pallets of stone filled most of my inventory along with one of dirt. The dirt was for a crazy idea I had. The spiders destroyed any large scale life, including plants so growing many trees wasn't feasible for me. Sure I had an indoor orchard, but it wasn't easy to set up.

I can't really dig down since who knows what lies beneath me besides the hordes of spiders. I'm also not comfortable setting up elsewhere yet. So I'm going to build a tree nursery in the Nether.

Sure people do it all the time in the game, but this is real life. The idea of growing trees in basically hell just seems ridiculous.

It works beautifully. Once I excavate a large enough area I reinforce it with stone and start planting. Unlike in the real world physics here seem truer to the game. Gravity doesn't seem to have a hold here as my tests with floating blocks proved.

Sadly it does mean my favorite tactic of dropping stone pillars on things won't work. Still it means I don't have to limit myself and I don't. I expand explosively, only partially fueled by my desire for more netherrack.

What I find is strange.

The Nether is pretty random in the game. Here is seems even worse. Case in point. I seem to be inside a normal mining dungeon. Except it's in the Nether. It's really weird seeing railroad tracks scattered along neatly dug tunnels.

It seems I can't rely on my game knowledge to keep me safe.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I advance, my shield holding stead as it is bombarded with arrows. Having made it a few feet closer I drop another wall to give myself time to recover. It's netherbrick. Not as good as stone, but I've long since run out of that.

I check the shield. It's pretty damaged, but should hold for another push. I make sure I have a spare in my hotbar just in case.

Most of my equipment is heavily damaged. I resist the urge to block the tunnel and retreat. The end is in sight. I caught a glimpse of the green of the moss stone blocks before putting up the wall. Deep breath.

I charge with my shield in front. I keep a close eye on it's health bar. As soon as it empties I switch to my spare shield. It's now or never. It's my last shield.

I'm finally close enough. That's a lot of skeletons. More than I suspected. I thought I had thinned their numbers more than that. Too late now. I switch to dual swords. I need to cut their numbers down.

The fight's a blur made worse by the heat shimmers and my sweat. I don't really feel heat much, but three days of combat has taken it's toll.

I finally break through. I don't waste any time. I drop a glowstone lamp on the Spawner and turn around to face the remaining skeletons. I drop a wall to keep them from shooting the lamp.

When it's over I collapse. So tired.

I had suspected this Nether was different. I wasn't paranoid enough.

The first undead I ran into were zombies. These were not normal zombies. Standing fifteen feet tall and wearing bronze armor they were terrifying. They were also automatically hostile.

Fighting giant armored zombies wasn't too bad since all the corridors were short. They had to crouch to chase me and that let me pick them off. The only thing they seemed to drop was giant zombie heads and blocks of rotten flesh.

The problem came after I looted the first one. The head was labeled Giant Zombie Villager Head. Villager. As in people to trade with and can be cured of zombiesm. In theory.

So I shelved that problem. Easy enough, just wall them in and go around. The mining dungeon seemed full of them so I left. That's when I hit problems.

Outside the area was much closer to what I remember from the game. Twisting tunnels and large caverns. Lava everywhere. Ghasts and Magma Cubes scattered around.

There was one key difference. The horde of skeleton archers. They were seemingly endless and worse were intelligent. They didn't just rush forward. They tried flanking me, they tried ambushes. Hell they actually tunneled around walls I dropped. The first time they surprised me and I also got surrounded.

They even chased me back into the mining dungeon. They also had some way of communicating because I ended up cut off from my base and the portal. So I fought.

I couldn't take them on directly so I had to ambush them in small groups. Fortunately although they wre intelligent they weren't smart. A series of ambushes and traps let my thin their numbers out.

It's expensive though. I ran out of stone on my second day. I'm just glad I kept a furnace. With it I was able to make Netherbrick. It slows me down but I couldn't afford to let them surround me.

I ran out of food too. Never expected to be here that long. Just lucky bone meal still works. I'm pretty sick of baked potatoes though.

From there I just needed to get close enough to find out where the skeletons were coming from. That's when I found it. The spawning room. Just like in the game a large moss stone room with a Spawner inside.

Thankfully I can store a Spawner without a Silk Touch enchantment. I just dig under and when it's floating store it. Then I started hunting down the rest of the Spawners.

There were eight all together. None of the others were as difficult as that first one. Honestly if it wasn't for my fear of dying I might even have considered it tedious and repetitive. Of course if I could respawn this would have much easier.

It didn't escape my notice that the Spawners seemed to be in the same relative location as the underwater outposts I had torn down in the overworld. The mining dungeon also seems to correspond to the maze. It seems the Nether and the Overworld here share some kind of connection.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I'm running two days late when I finally go to Lorath. The next time I'm going to make sure I have plenty of time before trying something that risky. Well, hopefully there won't be a next time.

"Maekor!" Moira practically bowls me over when she charges forward to hug me. I grin down at her cheerful face. She really is adorable. "You came early!"

"Moira! Milord I'm truly sorry..." I wave off her mother's apologies even as I spare a nod for Trent. I'm thinking furiously. I was sure I had spent three days in the Nether. Afterwards I spent another doing random chores. I was supposed to be two days late. If I wasn't...

I keep thinking while absent-mindedly nodding to Moira's babble. It's become a routine by this point since Moira considers my her personal hero. I don't really have the heart to stop her.

"I guess I am early then. I guess I lost track of time." How is it that I haven't gotten around to making a calendar yet? "But I guess if I'm not late I don't really need to give you this cake then."

I grin at her protests. With a flourish I pull out a cake. It was a new recipe I had made based off my memories of devil's food cake. I grin as I watch everyone's eyes grow wide. I've actually never brought a cake before. I just hope they don't get sick trying to eat the cubic meter of dessert.

There's a reason I'm feeling so generous. The loot from the spawning rooms had more the most part been very generic. There were two exceptions. The first was cocoa beans. Unlike in the game it grew its own trees which was good. I had no way of getting fresh jungle wood.

I had actually spent a few hours using the cocoa to replicate several of foods I remembered fondly. Maybe I should open a restaurant later on?

The second was a music disc. It looked like a small, thick record, the kind which only held a single song. It was much stiffer than vinyl though. The song itself was just ok, I wasn't a real fan of any of the music in minecraft. No the recipe I got was the important thing.

Glass, Clay, Iron and Redstone is a very odd mixture. I'm even sure how it works, but than again the game seems to follow it's own rules. The discs made are of course blank.

I've already bumped up my plans for a device based off a phonograph to Locke. I can't wait until I have a recording device and can make my own records. Of course I need to find musicians and … hmm, I guess my music problems aren't gone just yet. Damn.

I console myself with watching the Barnes family eating cake. I've always had a soft spot for kids. Moira is making quite a mess. Kids it seems are the same everywhere. I note the grateful looks Matilda keeps shooting me.

She might be loyal enough for me to work with. Maybe give it a few months just in case. It's not like I need the money. Which reminds me that I need more people. Raising and training followers myself would be the best. That took time though.

I'd have to run some tests, but time might not be an issue for much longer.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Sadly I was horribly wrong about the passage of time in the Nether. I figured my sense of time was just distorted during the constant fighting. What I remembered from the game wasn't any help since I'm pretty sure chunk loading is not the same thing as time passage.

The upside was that having cleared out so much of the immediate area I had a fairly large chunk of the Nether that was uncontested. I massively expanded my base and even built a set of outposts based on the ruins of the skeleton spawners.

I have yet to locate a Nether fortress though so the zombies remain trapped in the heart of my territory. Until I can brew the appropriate potions I can't really try to cure them. Until I know it won't work I don't want to chance losing a potentially valuable resource. If I can recruit actual giants...

The Windlance project is coming along slowly. I really wish I could have picked up some Myrish craftsman. All the smaller parts are taking Locke forever to make.

On that note I broke down and actually built something by hand. It wasn't really created so much as constructed from parts and pieces of other items I scavenged. It didn't even look that good since I was more concerned with making sure all the parts worked.

The first thing I build is a cut down Dispenser. It was simple really. I just smashed one with a normal sledgehammer and picked through the pieces. Everything my power works on is more magical than anything so the weird bow shaped cluster of glowing red runes, that's what I wanted.

Like everything my power constructs, once it's broken the majority of it fades out of existence. I had only brief glimpses each time. It was a good thing I had essentially unlimited resources. I went through a lot of dispensers.

Right away I notice the runes are using the same letters as the Enchanting Table. Thanks to my work with enchanting I have a fair idea on how to read what they say. After a lot of testing I found I could even duplicate it.

I'm pretty sure this isn't how my powers do it, but I found I could inscribe runes by filling carved grooved with a mixture of redstone and wax. It uses way more redstone than any recipe calls for but it works.

The dispenser enchantment means I can't squeeze it into something smaller than a foot across. Still, a foot wide tube is actually able to be wielded. Sadly, not by me until I grow some more.

I'm able to something similar to hoppers. They look more like pipes and can't store anything, but they use up way less space when I'm done. I also tore apart a set of brass instruments and figured out how to build a miniature redstone circuit.

Lots of very shoddy work later and I was the proud owner if a brand new recipe. I labeled it the Arrow Storm. Basically a bunch of mini-dispensers mounted on a ball joint turret base. It had dedicated arrow storage behind along with large brass handles that contained the redstone to power the dispensers.

It wasn't particularly powerful, but thanks to the numerous Infinity enchantments on it, it will make up in volume what it lacks in power. And boy did it. The array was five across and two high, meaning it shot ten bolts at a time. Thirty bolts a second wasn't enough to darken the sky, but with enough of them working together...

The mental image makes me even sadder I can't enchant the dispensers.


	8. Expansion

Chapter 8 Expansion

In the following months I was very busy. I continued my slow spiraling conquest of the Nether but still haven't found a Nether fortress. I started building with Nether brick just to save time and discovered a curious thing. Nether brick actually encourages things to spawn in it.

Yep, it was one of the reason for my slow expansion. I periodically swept through all my outposts in order to clear them out. Light didn't affect when they spawned although they never spawned too close to me. I didn't really mind it. I was mostly just killing time until the dragon bones arrived.

That and collecting loot. Since all the enemies spawn I had taken to building long straight corridors. I placed intersecting corridors periodically so that from above my base was laid out like a spider web. I turned each intersection in to it's own room and placed a modified Arrow Storm turret that only had six launchers in the center.

I just patrolled and when I spotted something ran to the nearest turret. I was not about to try fighting anything especially Wither skeletons. I had no idea which difficulty I was on and had no intention of dying from a lucky strike.

Sadly, they're common enough I needed the turrets. I've also built me a very nice stack of skulls. It's a rare drop, but I've killed a lot of them recently. Still deciding on what to do with them. Not really willing to fight a Wither without a lot of health potions available.

In contrast to that I particularly loved the magma cubes. Being able to form magma blocks and slabs was even better than netherrack for me. They sped up how fast my metal fount and furnaces worked tremendously.

Magma Cream had other uses for me too. Since I had so much of it I had taken to experimenting with it. I was pretty proud when I found out how to extract one of it's components. Stick it in the furnace and it dries out into blaze powder. Combine it with a bucket of water and you get a slime ball.

I don't really have a use for either of those items, but options are always nice. Well, I don't have any practical uses. I can think of all kinds of hilarious traps involving sticky pistons. Which actually might be exactly what I need.

I race back to my base to bring my idea to life. In no time at all I am the proud owner of my own bone farm. I placed all eight of my skeleton spawners into a central pillar and dug a pit underneath. The pit was only ten feet deep and filled with an assortment of sticky pistons arranged to crush everything that dropped down.

Unlike in the game the sound of two blocks of stone slamming together was loud. I ended up moving my bone farm away so I didn't end up deaf. A series of hoppers and chests collected everything.

I really wanted to do the same with the hags, but couldn't figure out what was spawning them. Altering the room didn't affect the area they appeared within. Something to work on later I guess.

Truthfully I'm strongly tempted to attempt to travel to the End. I'm pretty sure the End Cities contain Brewing Stands. It's been weeks! I've explored miles in every direction! Where are the Nether fortresses?

It's not like it's be that hard either. Endermen weren't too common, but they roamed in packs. They also teleported to you even if you looked at them through a spyglass. It was easy enough to lure them into a killzone.

Best of all after picking up my first ender pearl I received a set of new recipes. Besides the eye of ender I got one for endportal frame blocks along with rules on how to construct one. I guess Strongholds aren't a thing in this reality.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I received the raven from Matilda I smiled. While I visited at least once a week I still wanted a way to get news faster. I had no desire to ever run into an ambush again.

Towards that end I had actually gotten around to building the Barnes family a second story. It housed their ravenry which pretty much was only to send messages to me. An expensive indulgence unless you have unlimited resources like I did.

She would only be sending me a letter if something important had happened. While ink and paper were just as easy for me to create as all the rest of my resources I hadn't told her that. Even if it's free, it still takes time.

It seems a small fleet had pulled into port. My skull was finally here!

I set sail immediately.

As I pull into the port in my boat something felt off. It was too quiet. People were about, but everyone was tense like they were scared of being attacked. It was with a sense of dismay that I saw the fires that were consuming my storage shed.

Son of a bitch! I had just added that ravenry too! I had to make a trip to Braavos to set it up. They are so dead.

I turn around. Aand ambush confirmed. Several men stand up on the galley and start shooting at me with bows. I ignore them other than to put on my armor. Not my brightest move.

I forgot how fragile my boats are. Half a dozen arrows strike it and it shatters. I don't even have time to curse before my armor drags me down.

I notice the planks that drop are floating at the surface instead of sinking like me. Oh yeah, real world physics. I store my armor and search my inventory.

Stone, stone, netherrack, netherbrick. Come on! I keep searching as I see my oxygen bar depleting. There!

Helm of Respiration. It buys me some time, but isn't a solution. There's no way to swim far enough to get out of sight. Unless...

I'd like to flesh out my idea into a real plan, but I'm running out of time. I start swimming back towards the ship. Luckily I was fairly close since I was dumb enough to sail in all fat and happy.

I ran out of air, but between the helmet and food I barely lost a quarter of my health before I was ready. I punched a hole in a docked fishing boat to get some air. I propped it up with a stone pillar. No sense giving them warning.

The keel of a boat is like the archstone for a building. It's the strongest piece and the most important. It's also the largest point of weakness. There were a lot of things I expected, for the galley to practically disintegrate when I chopped apart it's keel was not one of them.

I barely had time to get out of the way as the wreckage sank. The debris left a giant layer of wood spread across the water too. I didn't even feel the slight burns I got when I used a magma slab to set everything on fire.

I waited until the fire had spread across a good portion of the docks before making my move. There really wasn't any point hiding my powers anymore. Building myself a tower of stone I rose out of the sea.

I stopped when I was a hundred meters in the air. From there I was clearly visible to everyone and I could see across the whole town.

I placed a mini arrow storm turret and just started shooting. At this point I didn't care about any of them. I shot everyone I could see.

From my point of view these people were quickly proving themselves liabilities. Every single time I tried something it went wrong. And when they weren't ignoring my troubles they were helping. I wouldn't have even minded that much if they had at least brought the damn skull.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It was too bad they built so heavily with stone. I would have liked to level the town completely instead of just terrorizing it. It was surprisingly soothing trying to kill everyone in the town.

Granted I didn't kill everyone. For one, the people weren't complete morons. They soon realized to say inside was safer. I also couldn't shoot far enough. I could shoot around a quarter mile. The problem was Lorath was big. Between all the compounds and paranoia the city stretched miles.

Still I could cover the docks. No one was going to be leaving anytime soon. The fire I started spread pretty fast. It also wasn't stopped, probably because I shot anyone who tried. Every ship there burned. The few that tried to run I shot a magma block at.

It wasn't even hard. Just sit and spray some arrows any time I see movement. I spent all day at it. I also kept expanding and improving my tower. By the time I decided I had done enough I was relaxing inside a full blown hut. A tiny hut, but still recognizable as one.

Other than the beginning, this might be the easiest fight I've had yet.

I didn't stop just because I was bored. Nope I stopped because the merchants finally realized what I was doing. They pooled there guards and slaughtered every member from the fleet. They then piled the bodies and apologized. A lot.

I was still pissed, but held off shooting them. If I was ever going to train them properly I needed to make sure I only punished bad behavior. I should probably reward good behavior too. So annoying.

I eventually accepted their apology after making them sweat a bit. I tore down my tower and stored it. Then I went to check on my last employee.

As I walked I easily ignored the numerous glares. I kept myself ready in case anyone attacked. While I was sure the city had learned its lesson I'm also fairly certain that many of the merchants are ruined. The fires had destroyed every ship at the docks along with consuming several of the ship building and repair facilities. No doubt some of them would want revenge.

I was actually pretty surprised I didn't get attacked. Instead everyone avoided me. It was only after I reached the blacksmith that I realized why. It was burned down. Inside I could see the twisted half-melted remains of the Windlance. I doubt Locke had survived.

I was pissed. I needed a blacksmith. To believe I had actually been thinking about selling this miserable town logs to help. Fuck Planetos. As I leave I wonder if Lorath will even survive or if another town will conquer it.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

After loading up with supplies I set sail for Braavos. I needed to find out what happened with my deal. We had a contract! If they screwed me over I was going to kill them all.

I stopped by the peninsula I had noted earlier. Exploring it showed it was just as uninviting as ever. It was also only a little over two hours from Braavos.

I pulled in along the cliffs until I found a spot that wasn't visible to any passing ships. I rapidly tunneled deep into the cliffs and started setting up my new outpost. I was paranoid. The first staircase turned and let upwards into a completely false lair.

My false lair was an enormous deathtrap using fixed mini arrow storm turrets, moving pistons and trapdoors altered to serve as collapsing floors.

To get to my actual base you had to mine through the wall at the first turn and keep going. A second similar entrance was located right after the first set of trap. It wasn't as good as the spiders, but as long as it doesn't draw serious attention it should be plenty.

I built a full base. Multiple farms. Storage. Crafting stations. And the main reason for the base. A Nether portal. I don't just build one either. The peninsula is more than wide enough for my base to span several miles. I place a Nether portal at each end.

I know the portals have to be a certain distance apart to create a new portal in the nether. Hopefully a few miles should be enough. It should also make it easier to find my portal in Lorassyon since I tried to angle the two portals in that direction.

When I entered the Nether I was actually pretty disappointed. Just like before I was inside a small clearing of netherrack. I quickly replicated my efforts to set up a base. Even the other end wasn't that bad.

Sure I showed up in the air above a sea of lava, but pallets and walls let me build much faster than in the game. I barely had time to be in danger before I was secure behind six feet of stone.

Then just like I had before, started spiraling outwards. I extend rapidly from each portal, building outposts as I go. If the Nether was anything like in the game it should be much shorter than the four miles the overworld portals are separated.

It's slow tedious work. Bouts of paranoia mixed with lots and lots of boredom. My farms had started long since producing enough to provide me everything I needed. My work pays off though. I didn't even complete two full rings of outposts around each end before I was able to join the bases.

I'm don't really have a time limit so I actually start building a road back to my main base. There is another peninsula that has some ruins on it that will work for a decent waypoint. I sail there to set it up. Don't want to miss it.

The ruins loot more abandoned than destroyed. Possibly a former outpost by someone else? Either way it's easy enough to see why it was abandoned. The soil is very rocky and even the trees are stunted. There isn't any real reason to stay and nothing to give a fledgling settlement some kind of advantage. Which makes it almost perfect for me.

I spent some time digging some irrigation ditches connected to the sea before planting reeds along them. I wanted this place to be as unappealing as possible. Stony soil is hard to grow crops in. Salty soil though? Impossible.

The one spring in the area I divert underground into my own base. Since there wasn't any cliffs I dig deep and make sure to layer stone thickly above me. I don't bother building any real access points. This base is only really hear to place a Nether portal.

The Nether surprised me. I found myself inside a maze of mineshafts inhabited by zombies. They were all normal sized and normal acting too. My tactics were much more modern than before.

When I encounted a group of zombies I had one response. I dropped a fence, retreated a few feet and placed a turret. After mowing everything down in sight I advanced until I ran into another group of zombies.

Simple, efficient. It didn't take long to clear out the entire area. My everburning torches, as I've taken to calling them, made sure nothing spawned behind me. With the whole place lit it was easy enough to track down a source.

My first zombie spawner. Truthfully I'm not really sure what to do with it. I can extract bones from them, but the flesh is just going to go to waste. Besides I have no shortage of bone right now.

I suddenly recall a tidbit from the game. Anyone killed by a zombie turns into one. Hell yes! I am so saving this for now. Next time Lorath pisses me off I'm unleashing a zombie plague.

Is it a bad thing I want to cackle maniacally?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I've been working towards connecting my two waypoints for a while now. Really hoping I haven't veered off. It was when I decided to check on my progress that things got weird.

I build a Nether portal to pop out and look around. Right after I lit it it flickered and then went out. The hell? Or should that be The Nether? Yeah, mental fatigue apparently does affect me. Especially if I get too bored.

I personally blame the fatigue for the fact I keep trying. It was almost hypnotic. The bright purple glow. The odd flicker as the very air warped and shuddered. Then the way the light shattered like glass and faded.

I actually tried two more times to light the portal when it finally stayed lit. I should probably build a hut and sleep when I check my progress.

When I go through the portal I was immediately pushed. I braced myself and realized I wasn't hurt. Instead I was.. wet?

Looking around I was ankle deep in water. A wave had just hit me. And of course I can see the peninsula only a few miles away. I was so used to the game physics in the Nether that I almost left before wondering how the portal wasn't sinking.

I feel like laughing when I finally look down. My portal was standing on a small mountain of obsidian. Obsidian from broken portals. Oops.

Of course I didn't just leave it all there. Thank god for explosives.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I've known the overworld influenced the Nether much more here than in the game. With two examples I'm fairly confident that mining dungeons are located where previous settlements were. So current settlements...

Once I connect the two waypoints through the Nether I set sail for Lorath. Screw getting the skull, I might finally get to brew potions. Besides the skull might not even be there right now.

Once back at Lorath I land in an out of the way spot and dig straight down. If this works I'll worry about connecting it later, but right now I just want to test my theory.

I quickly build a portal and leap through it. Even before my vision clears I can feel myself taking damage. I hide behind my shield and look around. I'm being attacked by three blazes which are steady chipping away at my shield. Despite how bad the situation is I'm excited.

This is it. The netherbrick walls confirm where I am. I'm in a Nether fortress!

I retreat for now of course. No reason to stay. I jump back through already making plans. Planning that was interrupted by a fireball. I forgot mobs can use portals too.

Blazes are dangerous normally because they spawn inside the spacious fortresses or worse on platforms inside large caverns. They're attacks had a long range and they flew about incredibly fast. Inside the tiny room I had made none of that mattered.

I just charged in and started chopping away. After all of that I still was over half health. Stacking fire protection enchantments is so broken. I wonder if I could survive dragon fire?

I only got one blaze rod from their bodies. I really need to start carrying a weapon with Looting on it. Still for now the theory is confirmed. I block off the portal for now. I not taking the chance of something escaping.

I have a lot of building to reach the fortress, but for now I have brewing to do!


	9. Into the Depths

Chapter 9 Into the Depths

I set up my Brewing Stand back in Lorassyon. It's by far my most secure base. Until I get more blaze rods I'm not taking any chances with this. Just before I use the blaze rod I take a moment to examine it.

The blaze rod isn't really that impressive. A two foot stick that looks like it's made of glowing yellow metal. It's hot to the touch. Not burning hot, just overly warm. Hard to think that this is one of the main things that has been holding me back.

As soon as set the Brewing Stand up I was flooded with recipes. A huge number I could tell were actually from things I had stored In my Inventory previously. I could make ink, alcohol, and a dozen other liquids. Interestingly enough, they all used a Mundane potion as a base.

I still didn't have any use for a Thick potion, but would be experimenting later. For now I starting working on creating the stockpile of potions I've been wanting.

Unlike In the game, brewing takes half an hour. That is no where near enough time to get anything done. With how busy I am I'm not going to be able to brew very often. I really need some help. At least I can make three potions at once or I'd never get even close to ready.

Brewing also uses fuel in the form of blaze powder. While I have plenty it's still not as easy to get as most of my other resources. Fortunately a magma slab takes care of that. Magma really is amazing.

First on my list after health potions are water breathing. I really want to explore the sea and figure out what all is down there. Which makes me realize I need pufferfish. A fish that I had never seen the entire time in Lorath. Except near the underwater tower. Which I tore apart. Damn it.

Screw it. I build a fishing rod and set up while I brood. I can at least fish while I brew a few more potions. Within a few seconds I get a bite and I reel in... a pair of boots?

Is this a joke? Are my powers mocking me?

I try again and get another fishing rod. At that point I realize that using my crafted fishing rod is following the game rules. Which means I'm not fishing. It's more like activating a finicky chaotic item spawner than anything.

I build a small pool so I can keep fishing while sitting next to the brewing stand. Of course I immediately pull out a fish. A live fish. Seriously?

I pick up the fish and get basic information on it. I store it for now. When I finally get a puffer fish I look at the information and fall over laughing. Pufferfish eat algae, small crustaceans and clams. Basically everything I'm growing in my tidal farms.

I spend a fairly relaxing day stockpiling potions and fishing. Enchanting the fishing rod normally changes the loot table. Here, it interacts with me to make what I want more likely to appear. I can easily keep up with the demand.

I release the rest of the puffer fish in a few of the tidal farms. I even drop a prismarine block in the corner in case it attracts them. Hopefully they won't spread too fast. I wanted pearls for something. Probably trade. I guess that doesn't really matter as much now. Something to think about later.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Now that I finally had potions it was time to explore the sea bed. I briefly considered fighting the Wither, but I don't really need a beacon yet. I'm way too spread out right now for one to really benefit me.

Water breathing potions were not the only preparation I made. I also made a diving bell. I was going to have Locke make it but my version will do for now. A monstrosity of iron fencing and crudely painted on transparent plaster, it was perfect.

My power made sure it looked decent and functioned properly. The materials should also fall apart in the water fairly quickly. No use leaving a trail of discarded diving bells behind even if littering isn't a crime here.

I also made sure to grab an item harness and backpack. The item harness was based off the chest and tool belts. It basically gave me a second hotbar. The backpack, like the saddlebags able to be placed on mules, had an inventory of fifteen slots.

I experimented with them some, but everything I tried lowered the number of slots it had. My powers had some odd limitations. Thankfully making them waterproof didn't cause any problems. It just used up lots of oil and wax.

Following the lights turned out to be an interesting experience. For now I used diving bells to replenish my oxygen. They let my save my potions for an emergency. I can also use them like a trail of breadcrumbs back to shore.

The sea bed is pretty empty once you get far enough out. The kelp die out and the fish thin out as well. There a lot of octopods and kraken down here as well. Not sure why but sharks don't really seem to be a thing here.

The octopod is the perfect example. It's almost a normal octopus. If an octopus had a skeleton and defensive spikes. Flexible coral-like armor also coated it. It takes me to realize just what I'm seeing. If you take one and dry it out you get the sea star skeletons I found stored.

The krakens were the same. They were like squid. If you took the worst features of several sea predators and combined them. They had serrated bone hooks lining their tentacles and a mouth like a lamprey. They also seemed to come in all sizes ranging from a foot long to over thirty.

They were also aggressive. The first potion I used was because of them. I was sitting in a diving bell when one of them jets towards me. In an instant it wrapped the bell in it's arms and twisted. Just like peeling an apple the bell came apart in strips.

I didn't really realize this until later. I was too busy freaking out that my bell was smashed. A giant tentacle monster was attacking. And my bell was electrified.

Yep, krakens can generate electricity. Honestly it's overkill. I wonder if that's one of the reasons behind the myth krakens can cause storms. Stupid thought to have when you're about to die.

The next few minutes were an inky blur. Honestly I'm not sure how much damage I dealt. I stabbed around a lot, mostly at tentacles that grabbed me and then black.

Once the ink cloud dispersed I looked around. I did cut off one arm at least, which I stored. I was happy to see the injured kraken being swarmed, at first. Of course then I realized they were like sharks. Ah, so that's why there aren't any sharks. They are the sharks. Yep, time to move.

They cut me off easily. I was like a tortoise seeing how fast they darted through the water. So I bunkered up. Lots of pallets of stone and some walls and I had a decent tower. I made sure the walls were two blocks thick. Those arms were scary.

They were definitely relentless. They were also like piranhas. The first tried to squeeze through the gap I left on purpose. I wedged myself into a corner so it couldn't wrap anything around me and just chopped away.

Once it was hurt it tried to flee. I got a gorgeous view of a giant swarm of krakens tearing it apart. It fought back and anything it injured was also swarmed. For a few moments they ignored me.

Once the swarm had thinned a bit they rushed me again. Persistent things. I fought until they started attacking each other again. In the distance I could see more of them arriving, drawn by the smell of blood. I might be here awhile.

It was after the tenth or so charge that I decided to chance not to use a potion. Instead I pulled out a diving bell. The charges never really lasted that long so I can probably hold my breath through one. Once the charge starts I store it again and ready myself.

Hell yes! I hadn't even started drowning before they pulled back again. So it looks like I no longer need to worry about running through all my potions too quickly.

I was about to trigger the stack in my hotbar to pull out another bell when I realized something. I had fifty bells before. I had just used one. The stack is still sitting at fifty though.

The next few attacks were almost routine. I was much more interested in realizing I was an idiot. I had never even thought to test it. I knew my powers could create things. I don't know why I didn't think about air. My bells refresh their air once their stored.

They give up eventually and when I exit my tower I can see a lot of krakens just drifting around. Most of them are smaller and look kind of bloated too. Hopefully no more will show up.

I only encounter two more outposts before the ocean floor is deep enough that there isn't any light. Faintly in the darkness I can see a steady glow. Thank god for glowstone.

I leave a fairly steady stream of glowstone blocks behind me as I descend. No way was I going to chance getting lost down here. I stop for a bit when the sea bed abrupts vanishes. It's just darkness beyond that point.

Up ahead a cluster of lights shone the the dark. God I hate going in blind.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Venturing forth into the lightless depths was worse than venturing into the Nether. At least there I could build fortifications if I needed them. Floating here, essentially blind was horrible.

If had taken much longer I honestly would have turned around. But finally I got close enough to make out my goal. Just as I had thought, it was an ocean monument.

It shimmered and rippled in the pale light, making the edges blur and looking like a mirage. I can already tell exploring this place is going to be disorienting.

I don't even register the danger until it was too late. A faint glow, dismissed as another abyssal sea lifeform, abruptly turned into a bolt of searing light. Even through my armor it hurt. It also took off three health, a first since I started wearing two layers of armor.

Crap. I forgot about the guardians. I never really spent much time in the sea in the game. I review what I can remember even as I swim as fast as possible for the monument. Armor piercing lasers, cyclops... there was something else. As one of the said guardians tried to ram me I abruptly was reminded. Oh yeah, spikes.

I can't dodge. It's way too fast. Instead I pull out a spear and brace myself. Ok. This might not be as hard as I thought. It impales itself, charging forward until it's spitted thoroughly. I was worried as I struggled to keep hold of the spear. It slowly thrashed it's way up it to reach me, six inch spikes extended all over it's body.

And then abruptly it was over. It froze and slowly began dissolving. I reached out and snagged the handful of scales that hadn't disappeared. Prismarine. Just like the blocks.

I land on the top of the monument and look around. The layout seems the same as an ocean monument. There was a large central ziggurat with two wings extending forward from it. I had landed on top of one of the wings and made my way over to the ziggurat.

The problem was I don't remember it being quite so massive. The entire structure stretched out for hundreds of meters instead of the fifty or so I remember. This place is going to take forever to explore.

I cheat. Massively.

When I entered the structure I could easily tell it was laid out much like some kind of three dimensional maze. I had no intention of getting lost and possibly ambushed. Instead I just started mining out entire sections.

I fended off attacks by guardians several times. They actually kept their distance if I pulled out my spear too soon. I started building my own base even as I mined further in order to provide areas I could use to ambush them.

It still is pretty dangerous. The guardians are six feet long and much faster than I am even with my enchantments. I'm pretty sure I'd be completely helpless without them.

As I get more comfortable surviving them I start planning. Combat isn't much like the game, so much more complicated. If only Locke had been able to make my harpoon gun.

It's not easy, but I actually manage to capture one. I lured into a small alcove I built, dropped a wall between us and sealed the room. A quick use of a sponge and it was trapped!

Studying it was fascinating. It squeaked angrily at me even though it didn't have a mouth. For that matter it didn't have any other openings either. Inside was even odder. It didn't have any real organs besides a brain and the eye. It was closer to a flesh golem than an actual creature.

Cutting it open was a messy process and it bled everywhere. Thick green goo. Odd lack of smell. Eventually it died and left behind the lens of the eye. When stored it registered as prismarine crystal. Looks like I've been destroying part of my own loot. Oops.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My conquest of the monument takes an abrupt turn after I find my first sea sponge. Just like in the game, they have the ability to absorb enormous amounts of water.

So naturally I consolidate the parts I've been working on and waterproof it all. I build a furnace and try out the sponge and proceed to use it to remove all the water. I now have my own underwater base.

I'm now a bit sad I didn't bring more supplies. I could have set up a complete supply point down here. I need it too given how large this place it.

I keep expanding, but it's slow going. I'm periodically assaulted by a guardian. What makes it annoying is something they sit there and snipe at me. Need to find where they're coming from.

The first hidden chamber I got to was a nasty surprise. A swarm of zombies swam out of the opening and tried to pull me in. If I had broken through more thoroughly I might have actually died. Several minutes of stabbing with my longest spear failed to clear them out. They seemed to be endless.

In desperation I pushed a block of TNT through the opening and filled in the gap. The explosion launched the stone block away along with disintegrating zombie parts. I hadn't realized the stone didn't bond with prismarine. I check over what I've already made carefully.

The room was filled with the remains from the zombies. While gathering them another zombie appeared. Since it was alone I got a much better look at it.

It was like something out of Lovecraft. A head that looked like a cross between a frog and a fish sat on top of a squat body. Limbs much too long and much too thin ended in long webbed hands and feet. What wasn't rotting was covered in light scales.

I dug through the remains quickly, realizing that the zombie appearing meant. In the bottom actually set into the floor was what I was looking for. A spawner. Storing it told me that the creatures were even called Deep Ones. This really is something from Lovecraft.

God I hope Cthulhu isn't here.

Wait.

Isn't there an island named Leng?

Yeah. I'm going to avoid whatever part of the world that is.

I get back to mining out the temple. This place isn't endless and I really don't feel like coming back. There are hidden rooms everywhere. Each one swarming with Deep One zombies. It's feeling like my first time in the Nether all over again.

Now that's a thought. I could build a portal, pop back to my base and grab a few supplies. Excited I open my Inventory.

And of course I didn't bring any obsidian. Yeah, once I'm done here I'm never coming back.

As it was I was fast running out of stone. The few stacks of pallets were meant for a temple a fraction this size. If not for what I found on the next floor down I might have been forced to leave to resupply.

Coral. Somehow coral is growing down here, inside the monument. I'm not even sure what it feeds on. I'm just going to assume it's a power thing. Either way the bright red color gave the area a christmasy feel.

Mining the coral was easy enough. The interesting part was what it dropped. It dropped itself. As a plant.

Coral could be grown.

It was pretty easy too. Just give it space, make sure it's underwater and make sure it's reasonably bright. The best part was it could be converted using a Crafting Table into concrete.

Of course I can't just have good things appear. Nope. Once I dug out a few more blocks of coral I was abruptly blasted by a burst of laser bolts. The remaining coral was shattered as an enormous creature tore through it.

It looked like a guardian if you enlarged it to fifteen feet. It's scales had a grayish cast as well. The important different though was the spikes. It was covered in three foot spikes. They were constantly extending and retracting, giving off a rippling effect.

Behind it I could see two guardians making their way towards the hole. The elder guardian charged me even as it's eye slowly started to glow.

I didn't dodge, instead opting to plug the hole with one of my few remaining stone walls. The impact threw me to the side, but only took off a point of health. I was about to bless my armor when the plate mail shattered and faded away.

Thankfully I've been digging down so everything else was already air tight. I pulled out a sponge and drained the water.

I relaxed too soon. Unlike the normal guardians, this one wasn't helpless. It used it's spikes and slithered into me. There was no way for me to stop it. Even as I landed I pulled out two spears.

I managed to impale it when it tried to crawl on top of me. Unfortunately it didn't stop. It rammed the spears deeper trying to crush me. It's spikes started stabbing out as well. It felt like I was under a jackhammer.

I started chugging health potions with one hand even as I stabbed out with the other. I took the time to aim and slam a knife into it's eye. With it's laser gone it was a battle of attrition. It had way more health, but I had almost a full stack of health potions.

Finally it died. That was way too close.

I looked at my Inventory. Fourteen. I had used up over thirty potions in that one fight. That's insane.

Once I settled myself I kept at it. Retreat wasn't really an option since I'm never coming back. Besides there was some kind of treasure in the center from what I remember.

I reflood the room since I needed to lure in the guardians. As soon as I dig up the first block they all try to rush in. I impale the first one on a spear. The other two push past. Thankfully they can't shoot with the first one in the way.

I plug the hole again and dry the room. They're still dangerous, but I can hide behind one and just stab with a spear. So much easier.

When I open the hole again and have to kill another guardian I know I've found the source. It takes awhile to clear out enough of the coral to find it and I have to kill another guardian while searching. Unfairly, the normal guardians can just swim through coral.

I relax once I manage to find and store the guardian spawner. Once I continue downwards I don't actually meet any enemies. Instead I find myself in an enormous room that has an odd structure in the middle.

It was a small pale green pyramid . When it touched it I felt a rush. Just like when I placed the Brewing Stand I felt numerous recipes unlock. I apparently just learned necromancy.

Necromancy isn't like what I thought. Maybe it's due to the influence of my powers, but it's really similar to a Beacon. The first use are rituals. Basically loading or sacrificing specific blocks and gain an effect. The second was just enchanting. It had more rules, like only certain items had certain powers. In the end though it was still just enchanting.

Of course, all of this had to be done at the structure, which was called a Reliquary. Fitting since it's made from jade and a Wither skull. It was remarkable how a single structure can change how I view magic so drastically. It makes me hunger for other types of magic.

I know the red priests use some kind of blood magic. There are also shadowbinders from Asshai and warlocks in Qarth. Who knows how many others are also out there? Hell the alchemist guild might even count.

So many possibilities. I have a new goal. Fuck ruling the world. I want to learn more magic.


	10. Cleaning House

Chapter 10 Cleaning House

Thankfully the rest of the ocean monument didn't have any new surprises. The rest of the central ziggurat was mined out without any real incident. After the elder guardian the few normal guardian attacks were easily fended off.

Each wing contained was eventually cleared as well. They each housed their own guardian spawner protected by another elder guardian. I was much more careful this time. I also cheated outragously.

I didn't even fight. After trapping it I dropped a pillar of magma and waited until it cooked. Sure, it was slow, but so much safer.

In the end the monument was gone. Aside from my own stone fortifications all that was left were twenty-three massive prismarine pillars that the monument had rested on. They extended far past visual range and I had no desire to try and harvest them.

I had dropped a sea lantern to see how far they stretched and the light vanished before it stopped. The glow had also hinted as enormous shapes down there that I absolutely did not want to meet. No, I was done here.

Going up was simple. I made a large stone and glass waterproof room and emptied it of water. Once I got the proportions right it shot to the surface.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Experimenting with necromancy would be so much more disgusting without my powers. Everything involved with it required lots of body parts. The rituals were almost all variations of creating undead creatures.

There were an incredible number of factors and I know I had only scratched the surface of what was possible. The different types were all fairly balanced against each other as well. I also could create Wither skeletons or a Wither. Really sad about the last one.

They could be commanded easily, but the problem with them was how simple-minded they were. They could execute simple commands, but couldn't remember anything complex or make any actual decisions.

Still, it was more than enough to provide me with immense aid with a little work. It took three skeletons working together, but I manage to automate potion brewing. They could only make a single potion and only as long as the ingredients lasted, but it was still very useful for me.

It didn't take much more work to likewise automate most of my farms. It took hundreds of skeletons, but I now have a nice steady stream of resources. I took a day just to build a large storage facility.

To make storage easier I also created another container. The crate was basically the biggest chest I can make. It had a whopping two hundred and forty slots. With any luck it'll last me for quite some time.

The skeletons were used for two reasons. One, they were the fastest undead I can create. And two I have no desire to pick out rotting flesh from my food. Even if I can't really die from poisoning it'll ruin the taste.

Mummies are on the opposite end of the spectrum. A variant of zombies they are very strong, but very slow. I bet most people would use them for guards, but I have a much better job for them.

I'm actually building myself a galley. A trireme like one I was able to inspect back when I first was looking to rent a ship. Sadly, I still don't have either weir wood or ironwood. Still my ability to seamlessly join together blocks of wood means it's going to be much sturdier than normal.

Of course it won't be maneuverable. They're too dumb to pull off complex rowing instructions. Maybe something bigger would work. Being slow and clumsy doesn't really matter to something like a small island.

I could probably make it out of metal then. Maybe something like a carrier from my past life? I'd need at last steam engines then. I doubt oars will do much. Of course I need another blacksmith for that. Something to look for when I head to Braavos.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Before heading out I decide to start exploring my own island. It's criminal how I know more about the ocean floor than I do about what is directly beneath me. And necromancy should provide me with the safety net I need to be relatively safe.

I consider several undead, but mummies seem the best bet. It's bound to be cramped down there and they're strength will help in close quarters. I make several squads of mummies to help me, although I'm only bringing one down at first. The rest will protect the tower. There is no way I'm getting trapped down there. It's just too bad I can't store them in my Inventory.

The first mummy is the only one with a shield. His role is simple. Survive. He's the meat shield. The second one has a spear to stab past the first one. I outfitted the rest of them for a variety of roles and they were all carrying all kinds of gear.

When we first started down the staircase in the guard tower I noticed details that I hadn't the first time. There was some kind of pipe running along the stairwell. It was inside the central support column and was only really apparent in places where the stone had broken off.

I wouldn't have thought anything about the pipe except it was slightly cracked. Inside you could see a dull red glow. I immediately recognized it. Redstone. What was redstone doing here?

Active redstone was way to dangerous to ignore. I quickly traced the pipe and located a daylight sensor on top of the roof.

Thinking about it I bet the sensor turns on a redstone lamp set next to a spider spawners. It'd be the easiest way to achieve that's been happening. Staring at it I have a horrible idea.

I quickly order my mummies to guard the staircase. Then I cover the sensor with a roof. After a few moments I can hear the sounds of combat. Ok. So that part worked.

Next I place a sea lantern on top. In the game only sunlight works on these, but this place is more realistic. I listen carefully and feel like grinning when the sounds die down. Looks like I was right. Time to collect me some spider spawners.

I was wrong. So so wrong.

There was no lamp. There was a door. An iron door I opened.

Then I was fighting for my life. I have to admit I was impressed. The corridor had turned at the door and it was positioned so that when opened the door would block the hall, leaving only the route to the surface. Elegant.

I'd be a lot more impressed with the maze makers if I wasn't currently fighting for my life.

I lost the mummies almost instantly. They were already slow and couldn't kill them fast enough. The webbing they laid down just made it that much worse. The spiders swarmed all over them.

Still, they bought me enough time. I had just enough time to place a few blocks to narrow the corridor before they reached me. From there I just had to last long enough for the numbers to thin. I pulled out two swords and started hacking away.

It only took a few minutes but it seemed an eternity. An eternity of snapping fangs and bodies crawling over each other to get to me.

When the horde did thin I immediately charged forward. There were still spiders, but only a few but I ignored them. I held a shield out in front to protect me and was swinging shears around to clear out the webbing.

When I passed the door I almost laughed. It wasn't very large, but it was deep. I could see it extended twenty feet down and all of it was filled with webbing. Even as I watched more spiders were crawling their way upwards.

The webbing made it hard to make out, but I could see a column in the center where the spiders seemed to be coming from. I laughed when I realized the layout was identical to my bone generator, except inverted. Those had to be the spawners.

I've come too far to go back now. Besides I had already done the hard part of clearing out the horde.

I jumped down, frantically swinging two shears. I plummeted past the climbing spiders and landed on the column. As I suspected they were spawners. I leaned down and started storing them. At this point as long as I don't die the trip was worth it.

A flick of a torch and the whole pit starts burning. Webbing is ridiculously flammable. The few spiders that attack me were easily dispatched.

I retreated after that. I want a lot more mummies with me next time I try to explore. I also note the spiders shredded their equipment. They need stronger armor. I need another blacksmith. So many issues.

I also realize that if I strike closer to dawn there wouldn't be as many spiders piled up. I wait until the next morning to strike. I also don't bother fighting.

I narrow the route with blocks, creating a series of choke points. Then I use one of my mini arrow storm turrets to mow down the spiders. Once there was no longer a wall of bodies in the way I charged. A fire arrow set the pit in fire and hurt any spiders there if not outright killed them. Then it was just down to simple collection.

I don't clear out all of the towers. I stop after three and build myself a spider harvester. It was much like my bone pit. It was horribly expensive in comparison though. Not like that really mattered at this point.

A decent size, very tall room with a column of spawners in the center. I had ten of my twenty spawners here and used blocks to make the column reach the ceiling. The floor and walls were all magma in order to burn off any webbing.

The ceiling were all arrowstorm turrets facing downwards. A literal wall of arrows would fire fairly continuously, killing any spiders that appeared. Hoppers under the magma slab floor would collect everything.

The only downside was that the chests tended to fill with arrows fairly quickly. Makes me wonder if I should start selling arrows at some point. Actually, seeing as how the arrows are identical I might do just that. Just need to find me someone who specialized in arrows. I wonder if there is such thing as a masterwork arrow?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With backup troops, potions and magic it was past time to fix a problem. My first base in the nether still contained a walled off section inhabited by zombies.

I had no intention of approaching one of the giant zombies myself. One of the times I had run into one it had shattered a stone wall I placed before I made it out of sight and it forgot about me. No, a skeleton would feed the zombies golden apples.

I wasn't taking any chances though. A mini arrow storm without the infinity enchantments would be backing him up. Each of the two tubes was loaded with tipped arrows. Weakness, slow, blind, weight and other negative effects were going to be used.

Potion brewing was more logical here and every potion could be inverted. I also only had a limited number of the tipped arrows. Thanks to how many steps it took to create them I had to make them myself.

For once it went smoothly.

I lure a few of the zombies over, shoot them all with debuffs and run away. The skeletons try to feed golden apples to the zombies. I heard the sizzling sound that meant it was working. Then it was just a waiting game.

I couldn't just hide either. Scattered all over the place were zombie pigmen. They all aggroed when I shot the first giant zombie. I also needed to clear them out since they would attack once the giants were cured.

It wasn't hard to wipe out the zombies. My mummies and skeleton archers easily mowed them down. I just had to keep watch for surprises. The one time I slipped a ghast killed over a dozen mummies.

Still, it worked. In the end I had two cured giant villagers. They were a colossal disappointment. All that work and they were just villagers that took up more space. Worse they weren't useful!

They spoke with me since I knew Old Tongue, but they wouldn't obey me. They might have, if they didn't forget about me as soon as I stopped talking. They didn't even do anything. They just wandered around aimlessly. Worse they were helpless. When anything attacked them they just ran.

Well that was a horrible waste of time. Screw this, if I can't have actual giants I guess it's time to make giant golems.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Golems were another thing that had been unlocked with necromancy, sort of. Unlike in the game it was not a straight forward process to create one. Nope. I had build a Golem Crafting Station, what was just a slab of four blocks of obsidian, redstone and diamond. Then I had to make the golem at the new structure.

Sure the body was the same. Again, sort of.

For the body I couldn't use iron. Instead I had the option to use blocks of rotting flesh, bone or dragon bone. Obviously I don't have dragon bone. So I tried flesh. At least it was the same four block configuration.

Then I had to make the head. Not just a pumpkin. No I needed a jack o'lantern made with a redstone torch, more redstone dust, and a skull. It wasn't even any smarter than a normal golem. And as for combat? Well, I already had mummies and I was curious as to how they compared.

The golem lost. It wasn't even that close. The mummy tore it apart. They seemed to have about the same strength but it had more armor and health. The golem wasn't any faster either.

I tried a bone golem as well just to be thorough. It was still weaker than the mummy it had something that was interesting. Item graft. Simply put the golem integrate a tool or weapon into itself. The item wouldn't wear out either.

I was eventually planning on replacing all of my farming skeletons with bone golems. The problem was they were nine feet tall. I'd have to literally rebuild almost everything to make enough room for them.

I had the option to make a centaur golem instead. It only cost four additional blocks and was actually faster. Still not as fast as a horse, but much faster than a normal golem. It was also even taller, standing twelve feet high. Currently I'm not really seeing any use for them.

The last option was for giant golems. Standing twenty feet high they would work very well as shock troops. Their main limitation is that they need a giant golem head to build. And of course a giant golem head requires a skull of a giant.

All this flashes through my mind as I think about my current problem. Giant villagers are pretty much useless to me right now. They can't make anything I can't and they don't really seem to do anything useful. Staring at the wandering giant villagers I have a random thought. After all they are acting just like villagers. I wonder how far that extends?

It doesn't take long. A few hours at most to build a fake village and trade with the giants. Sadly, it was for nothing. They don't remember me or even each other. I suppose breeding my own villagers was just too much to hope for. Looks like I need actual giants if I want to breed them.

The fact they were friendly made it easy to decapitate them. Just wall them in tightly and then start chopping. As tightly bound as they were they died long before breaking free. I wasn't taking any chances on not getting a skull. I don't really need giants right now, but the option is always nice.

Killing the giant zombies without trapping them had them just dropping a block of rotting flesh. As annoying and expensive as it was, I was forced to cure each of them before killing them. They were just too strong to trap otherwise.

Eventually I cleared out all five levels of the mining dungeon. Sadly there wasn't any kind of spawner. I was also disappointed to find that no other giant zombies, villager or otherwise, spawned no matter how long I was down there. I guess it was too much to hope for my own supply of giant skulls.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I swing by Lorath and I'm pleased to see they have sea traffic. They even have their own flag still. Looks like I didn't ruin the city after all. Not many people seem happy to see me, but no one attacks me and that's the important part.

I travel to the place where I had placed my portal and mark it. I take the time to let the prince know I've claimed territory. It's not in the city, but it still seems like the polite thing to do.

I don't hold back much. I build a castle. Large central keep, curtain wall, corner towers and a moat. The works.

Most of it is empty. More for show than anything. I'm making a statement. This is my land. Don't bother me. It's reinforced by the staff.

I expand the wall. It's not a curtain wall anymore. Instead its like a long, flat guard tower that wraps around the keep. Arrow slits start about ten feet up and continue to the top. There are hundreds of arrow slits and skeleton archers behind each one.

The archers are all armored. No use panicking people. They all have one job, shoot everyone in the moat.

The moat was inspired by a movie image of Camelot, not sure which movie. The castle looked like it was sitting on a lake. So my moat was wide. Fifty meters, over half a football field wide. Not as big but I got bored.

Once the castle was done I rebuilt my portal room. Golems were stationed to fight next to the portal. Mummies might be better overall, but golems weren't vulnerable to fire. Skeleton archers and several traps made sure nothing could escape.

Preparations complete I invaded the Nether fortress. A squad of golems marched ahead of me and several more followed behind. With that many troops, it was a cakewalk.

The creatures assaulted my vanguard, giving me time to setup my arrow storm turret. I fortified the area with additional walls and cover before directing the golems to spread out and kill everything.

It was chaos. The creatures weren't organized and were easily pushed back. Anytime my golems were in danger I popped out my turret and provided cover fire. The few blazes were all distracted by my golems and never saw me coming.

In no time at all I had secured the fortress and now had two blaze spawners. Looks like my potion bottleneck is at an end.


	11. Wake the Dragon

Chapter 11 Wake the Dragon

With nothing major left to take care of it was finally time to deal with Braavos. Well, I could work on connecting all of my waypoints. That could take weeks though and I wasn't willing to put off going back to Braavos that long.

After Lorath it was nice being able to walk the streets of a city without everyone staring in terror. Of course a little fear might be nice since no one really pays attention to a little kid. Still, the bone golem I brought works well enough. Not often people see an armored nine foot figure following a kid when shopping.

The Iron Bank were professionals, but it was fairly obvious they were nervous around me. That was not a good sign. They arranged a meeting in a very lavish room.

I was patient. I listened to their excuses. In fact, they were actually reasonable. At least to them. From my point of view? Not so much.

They claim the Iron Bank didn't technically betray me. They bought the skull and shipped it here just as agreed. King Robert somehow realized I was involved and paid them for information. Fucking spy networks.

Worse he paid them with my money. Well, the money I had just paid him. Actually, I'd admire that move I hadn't been screwed over by it. He then sent a small army to hunt me down.

The Iron Bank, since they quite reasonably assumed I was dead, kept the skull. That would be fine. They didn't ship it to me as agreed, but that it was minor enough I'd just be annoyed with them.

The problem was they didn't need a skull. So they charged me storage fees. Again, I could have paid them. But no, then sold the skull to cover the fees. Within two days it was already broken up and scattered across Essos. Two freaking days!

If that's reasonable, I was not feeling reasonable.

The problem was that I still needed them.

Or did I? The thought just popped up. It was insidious and took the time to examine it before giving in. Really don't want to screw myself over.

Braavos is a trade hub, but it's not the only one. It'd be annoying to have to go all the way to Pentos, but might be worth it. It's also closer to Myr, which from it's reputation, is a place I really need to visit. A lot of the fragments had been shipped there as well.

As I was trying to decide on how I should respond I noticed my health bar change. It shows I've been poisoned. I drink an antidote to clear it and sip some more tea. And poisoned again. Well, looks like my decision is made for me.

I take great satisfaction in stabbing the droning banker. Guards stream in. There were obviously waiting. My golem defends me as I set up a turret.

It's messy trying to clear out the building so I don't. I use TNT to blowup large sections and set up some defensive walls. Then I build a half dozen more golems and press on.

I don't get them all. I don't even get that many. The Iron Bank is one of the largest institutions of Braavos. So the city moves to protect them. I watch as hundreds of city guards move in. Looks like they picked their side.

I order my golems to go out and kill everything. I escape in the confusion easily enough.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I sail away as quickly as I could. I'm not sure if my description has spread yet. Hell, they might not even know it's me. That'll change soon enough.

I don't leave, instead I circle back. Braavos has a ring of rocky islands surrounding it. They're used as windbreaks and thus empty. Only a few watch towers are scattered and then only on the edges. And of course the Titan. It was an impressive blend of form and function.

I pick one of the larger islands and burrow into it. Just like my other waypoints I dig deep and establish a small base. The island is completely empty and so there is no one to notice me reshaping the interior. It isn't difficult to hollow out the center in order to build me a massive tree farm.

I needed all that lumber for one simple reason. Fire ships. Only a hour past midnight the first fire ship launched. The ship was simple enough. A walled raft with four skeleton archers in it. It would drift along, attacking everything until it was stopped.

Once it stopped one of the skeletons would trigger the fire charge placed in the center of the ship. The resulting fire should spread to anything they are up against. I wasn't satisfied with just that though.

While everyone was fending off the fire ships I snuck back to the Iron Bank. I quickly built myself a large stone tower over a hundred feet high. And then just like at Lorath, I set up a turret and proceeded to shoot everyone I could reach.

I didn't just use an arrow storm turret though. A dispenser turret filled with fire charges allowed me to set entire neighborhoods on fire and deny cover to anyone who wanted to get close. It wasn't until well after dawn that the city organized any kind of response.

They had a lot of scorpions. I supposed I should have realized since Braavos is a sea power. It also felt like every single one was currently being used to shoot at me. I could barely fire back without having to dodge at least two bolts!

In the end I decided I'd drawn enough attention. Even now soldiers were attempting to scale the tower I had built. Good luck, the stone was seamless and smooth as glass. I built a solid cap of stone and slid down the ladder.

I triggered the timer, basically a long wick, before running off through the tunnel I had dug. I periodically put up a wall of stone behind me. I wonder anyone noticed me escaping. I leave behind a present though. The entire center of the tower was made of TNT.

The explosion was enormous. It turned the tower into a giant grenade and shrapnel tore apart everything nearby. Even as far away underground as I was I felt it. The stone wall I had just dropped cracked from the pressure. Really glad I put down so many.

I figure that was enough a distraction and came up. I could see all the surrounding structures still shaking. It seems the islands aren't that stable.

In all the chaos no one paid any attention to me, especially after I changed clothes. It was easy enough to wander around town. I leave pallets of TNT on timers where no one can see them. Unexpected explosions are always more terrifying.

I also periodically leave behind premade sign posts detailing how the Iron Bank screwed me over. I demand at least three adult dragon skulls be shipped to Lorath as my price to settle the matter. Hopefully someone will both to read them.

Somehow I doubt it will be that simple. Still I intend to periodically come back and attack the city until they make it up to me.

Towards that end go back to working on my base as well as another on the far side of Braavos. In between establishing the two bases and connecting them into a single chain of waypoints I periodically attack the city.

Fire ships, bombing buildings and zombie attacks. I try to keep them on their toes. I only use zombies once since they had so much trouble with them. It seemed like a quarter of the city was damaged by that attack. I didn't want to destroy the city. There would be no one to threaten then.

To be fair I do check back with Lorath before each attack. To make it easier on me I build a high stone platform outlined in torches. When the skulls arrive they are to be placed there. It's obvious enough I only have to swing nearby before I can see it with a spyglass.

When I can I sneak in and put up more signposts with my demands so they can't possibly claim ignorance. Eventually they'll learn their lesson. Either that or the city will burn to the ground.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It takes weeks for the skulls to arrive, but they do arrive. I'm just glad Braavos decided to be reasonable. I was feeling generous too so I decided to leave Braavos alone for now. Or at least what's left of it. At least half the city has been damaged in some way by my attacks.

One of my first bombing runs had been along a large portion of the Sweetwater Canal, which is their only source of freshwater. The riots it's destruction spawned had still been going on when I had made my next attack. It probably made the zombie attack that much worse. At least the zombies cut down on how many people needed water.

I had also hit the Arsenal. I floated a whole ship stuffed with explosives over to them. I only intended to damage to shipyard there. The Arsenal attack turned out even worse for them through no effort on my part.

I hadn't realized they stored so much Wildfire there. Even now, weeks later it still smoldered with green flames. They should have been more careful when storing it. Also, I really need to get a hold of some Wildfire.

I only spared the Titan because I wasn't trying to destroy the city. Besides I might need the city at some point. I don't right now though.

Over the past month I had managed to connect all of my waypoint to each other along with my main base. It was decidedly tedious work, but well worth it. I had also established a few more waypoints, both further along the coast and inland along the Sweetwater river. I was well on my way to have a full web of stations instead of just a chain.

Speaking of expansion, the rest of Lorassyon was actually disappointingly easy to explore. Four levels of large meandering stone hallways. Occasional fortified sections looked like family compounds or work stations. Everything had decayed too far to really tell though.

I did find signs of more recent activity. Still old, but not quite as ancient. Best guess was that this was the remnants of the Cult of Boash. It seems fitting a religious order centered around a blind god would flee underground.

In the deepest level I found a stockpile of spider spawners. One room held a few octopod skeleton spawners along with a reliquary. Given how many tools and tables were present it seemed reasonable to assume it was some kind of workshop.

And that was it. All that work and worry and in the end the spiders end up being the only problem. Some of it was more recent, but it seems the cult hadn't made any real progress understanding what was down here. I could have dug downwards at any point.

I waste no time taking over the labyrinth and restructuring it. I have no reason to keep it's confusing layout. I move all of my farms and harvester setups as well as greatly expand them. I'm just glad they were so tall, I need the space to make use of my golems. Farms, orchards and ranches soon fill the layers.

With nothing to fear nearby I don't see a need to hide anymore. I tear down the maze on the surface and cover the island in a massive castle. Hollow thirty foot walls filled with skeleton archers ringed the entire island multiple times. Moats of water and flaming magma filled the space between the walls.

The very center of the castle contained a fairly nice living area. Any craftsmen I hire from now on will live there. They are going to remain _safe_.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I had more plans and ideas for my island, but the arrival of the dragon skulls halted them. When I swing by and see them I feel like cheering. There they are. Three gleaming black skulls. Perfect.

I abandoned my latest idea for attacking Braavos. Poisoning their water supply would be a poor way to respond to them giving in. Besides I can always use it later.

I don't slow down and jump out of my boat even as it smashes against the shore. It's just wood. I ignored the guards watching me and walked past them towards my shiny black treasure. I was so surprised I almost didn't react when one of them suddenly turned and stabbed me with his knife. I turned to face him. Really?

He was brave at least. He drew two more knives and kept attacking. I noticed I was poisoned. Eh, he'll be dead before it matters. In the meantime everyone else was running. At least they weren't idiots.

A quick flurry of attacks with weapons that flickered in and out of existence killed him easily. It took more hits than normal though. It was then I realized I wasn't just taking damage. I had a whole host of status effects on me right now. Pain, weak, slow, vulnerable, the list went on and on.

Whatever he had used was some nasty stuff. It was while I was studying him that I noticed an odd bronze dagger. Storing showed me it was enchanted. The enchantments were odd. One used to butcher meat neatly. One to preserve meat gathered. And another used to safely remove the wielder's own face.

A faceless man.

Interesting. I wonder who hired him. Probably should have captured him. Oh well, I'll try and capture the next one. I am now more determined than ever to safeguard my future craftsmen.

I laugh when I finally turn to collect my skulls. The town is completely silent and I can't see any lights on anywhere. In the alleys I can see people trying to sneak away from me. Looks like they're still scared of me. Good.

I leave quickly though. I have magic to play with!

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

An arcane workbench is apparently the jackpot. It didn't have a lot of recipes, but the ones it did give me were amazing. Beacons, wardstones and more.

The beacons were just like the game. Mostly. They didn't seem to have any lingering effect. They did have a much larger area. Not a bad trade off overall. Wardstones were basically beacons. Instead of targeting creatures though, they affected any blocks that are marked with a redstone rune. The rune might be a problem if not for what else I got a recipe for.

I can now make redstone. The recipe calls for obscene amounts of energy and materials, but it was possible. It was a nice option so that I wasn't limited to my hag farm as my only source.

That paled in comparison to the fact that I could now create Valyrian steel. It was even harder to create than redstone both in energy and materials. It didn't come with any recipes, but the method of creating it could be applied to an iron item already formed. Very inefficient, but much better than making trips to Qohor.

Of course that might be so much more useful before I found one of the most broken loopholes involving my powers so far. While clearing out the maze beneath Lorassyon the most common enemy I ran into was skeleton archers.

Unlike the spiders the skeletons tended to be clustered in defensible positions and in groups. They didn't wander around or give chase either. What they did do was fire tipped arrows. They didn't run out either.

When I finally buried them in bodies and made it close they only had one difference from a normal skeleton archer. They each clutched a tipped arrow in their off hand. When they fired their bow they didn't use the arrow either. Instead the arrow that appeared was a copy of the one they carried.

As if I didn't have enough resource producing methods I found that this one was even better than the infinity enchantment. The arrows could be poisoned, tipped with potions or made from odd materials. They were always copied. Having them fire gold arrows with diamond heads just proved how broken my exploit truly was.

I hadn't had the chance before, but I do now. And of course arrows made with dragon bone shafts and Valyrian steel heads are copied perfectly. Ok. So resources are pretty much never going to be an issue.

Of course that wasn't the only alteration. A number of the recipes were for my Golem Crafting Station. I now had the option of a dragon body. It was faster and tougher than a centaur golem without being any larger. It couldn't wield tools at all though.

The option to craft a dragon head for the golem had similar issues. It was easier to make since any skull would work, but at the cost of intelligence. It would basically be an attack dog. It did give a generous bonus to the overall health, but didn't really seem too useful. I mean, they couldn't even fly.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With everything looking up it was time to get me a dragon. In the game defeating the Ender dragon leaves a stone block called a dragon's egg. Here I'm betting it's a bit more than just stone.

Getting there isn't any problem at all. If anything I'm drowning in resources. I stock up on as much as possible. Hell I have everything I need to live there indefinitely if that's what it takes. There is no way I'm going to chance dying for real.

It was a strange feeling stepping out into what looks like outer space and not suffocating. The portal had let me out in a platform that just floated in the middle of nothing. Off to the side and extending above me I could see a mass of endstone.

I was glad to find most of the minions I sent through were here. I may have overestimated how much initial room there was. I quickly started extending the platform even as more minions started appearing and some were pushed off the sides.

Their death did tell me one thing though. I was most definitely not floating in space. When they fell off the sides they vanished into an inky darkness that rippled like water.

It wasn't water. Experiments showed that anything other than obsidian or endstone that touched the liquid was instantly and silently dissolved. Endstone seemed liable to sink, but obsidian was strangely buoyant, floating like cork.

Overall my entrance was a rousing success. I only lose a dozen or so units and I had a small army with me. Using the supplies I brought I set up a full fledged base for myself. Farms, a crafting room, even a skeleton and spider spawner.

I build a large spiral ramp leading up to the sheer edge of the island. I made sure to make the top from endstone so the dragon wouldn't destroy it. Then I marched onto the island.

I was accompanied by my special troops. Almost fifty skeletons after losses. Each one outfitted with iron armor with fire resistance. They were all mounted on summoned ice spiders and carried a variety of tipped arrows. I'm not sure if any will affect the dragon, but wanted every advantage I can get.

When I stepped onto the island I was confident. I had beaten the game before. I was prepared. I even had special minions. When I saw the dragon for the first time all I froze.

That wasn't an Ender dragon.

I start running back down even as a wave of fire blasts most of my troops off the island. That wasn't an Ender dragon! That was a Game of Thrones dragon! They're completely different!

I send out the surviving troops to attack the iron cages. At least that part of the plan is working. I sadly note less than half remained and watched them charge out. The dragon breathed on them, but thankfully something went right. The armor kept them alive through at least one breath.

I wince as endermen savage them. The skeletons didn't seem to know how to handle teleporting enemies. They had effectively stalled until I yelled at them to ignore them.

I note the flames leave behind a small cloud of dark red fumes where they touched the endstone. Ok, so there are some similarities. I both wince and cheer as explosions wipe most of my remaining minions. I really wish they were intelligent enough to give more complicated instructions.

Yeah. I'm satisfied for now. I yell at the minions to stay on the pillars and shoot at the dragon. Maybe they'll do some damage. And of course flaming arrows don't hurt it. On the other hand Arrows of Harming do.

Still it's not enough. The dragon I face dwarfs an Ender dragon. It's easily the size of a football field. The arrows, for all the damage they do, are only removing tiny slivers of it's health bar.

I retreat for now. I'm really glad I set up a base. Paranoia for the win!

I'm even happier with the spawners and start making more troops. My template had worked fairly well so I stuck with it. I didn't enchant it though. That would take forever. Still, at least I managed to give them all arrows of harming.

It was easy enough to make them and sent out batches of sixty-four to secure the area. I expected they would die in droves, but hopefully they'll hurt the dragon and maybe thin out the endermen.

I went up with the fifth wave. I didn't really expect to have won yet, but I was bored. The skeletons still can't fight the endermen and were being slaughtered. And any that were caught in the dragon's breath just melted. The fire protection was more important than I had realized.

It took longer, but I built a squad of obsidian golems this time. They were slow, but thankfully immune to fire. I was also glad to note they didn't have any problems fighting the endermen.

I kept watch as they stormed across the island. It was only around a square mile, which was still much larger than in the game. I really wonder what the dragon ate. Maybe the healing crystals kept it fed? It would explain it's size. It was enormous!

The dragon breathed on the golems a few times and eventually landed to attack them more directly. That was what I was waiting for. I raced forward and planted my arrow turret, filled to the brim with arrows of harming.

My hail of arrows tore into it even as I ignored the slight damage from it's breath. Well, those arrows that made it to him. A wall of fire is a pretty effective anti-arrow defense. The dragon had to pause to draw breath though, my turret didn't.

Individually each arrow was a pinprick, but hundreds of them with potions? It was like watching acid eat away at something. I made sure to shred it's wings so my golems could reach it. The island was now blessedly free of endermen.

I never saw the tail coming. After smashing into the ground I looked back, trying to figure out what happened. I noticed my armor was very damaged and my health was actually missing a chunk. I could see the remains of my turret, broken and already dissolving. Ah, and I could see the tail of the dragon heading right for me.

I threw myself to the ground. Damn it, they never did that in the game. I notice broken pieces of golems being launched off the island as well. I think about going back for another turret, but it's right there and already hurt.

I charge instead.

When the tail swings out at me I twist and brace myself. I crouch and brace the two spears I summon. I duck and roll and it swings over me. The tail slams into the spears, driving them deep. I summon another spear and brace. The tail flinches back and slams into my new spear.

The dragon shrieks and collapses with a blinding flash of light.

What just happened? Did I kill it by stabbing it's tail?

As I stare in disbelief I can see the throat still moving. A few seconds later a golem crawls out of it's mouth.

All of that and it chokes to death.


	12. The End

Chapter 12 The End

The body of the dragon doesn't disappear when it dies. No, it does something much weirder. It starts to convert to endstone. Does this mean the entire island is made from dragon corpses?

The few pieces I removed didn't convert even after I took them out of my Inventory. Oddly, the skin and bones were converted to normal leather and bone. In the end everything left save the skull and heart were converted.

Breaking apart the body after that only yields the skull and heart. The skull is of course dragon bone and so looks fossilized already, but the heart is actually a mass of blocks that resemble magma. They shatter like glass when struck though and drop blaze rods as the shards disintegrate. A few hours or digging later and I sadly conclude the island probably doesn't have any dragon skulls or hearts buried anywhere.

What it does have is two new structures. The first I recognize as the Exit portal. That should take me back to the overworld. I waste no time in making my over and grabbing the dragon egg that spawned on top.

It's different from the game. A cluster of tines cradled a single egg that was only about a foot long. I only had to pick it up. No mining involved. Placing it in my Inventory even labeled it as an item.

The second I don't recognize at all.

It was supposed to be a Gateway portal, but those were made from bedrock. This looks like the Nether portal if it was made from glowstone. It even had the same purple glow. Touching it revealed it was the Gateway portal and gave me a recipe and description as well.

This changes things.

The ability to travel three kilometers nearly instantly was amazingly useful. Never mind rails, boats or even flying. I needed these everywhere.

I was interrupted in my plans for creating a network of gates across the world by the arrival of a ship. When it appeared I just stared. An End ship. Sailing. I guess I should have expected it to be able to move, but seeing it still surprised me.

It was definitely an End ship too. A large purple sailing vessel with no sail and a dragons head on the bow. Although it wasn't so much a dragon's head as a full size dragon skull.

Looks like it's time to meet the natives.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The meeting did not go well. First off they wanted the dragon skull and heart and were pretty pissed they were missing. Second off they looked very different from me. They were short, standing only about five feet high and had a slender build. Their skin was paler than mine and their hair and eyes were black with a purple tint. They seemed to instantly find my appearance suspicious.

All of that could have been explained way if only we shared a common language! I could make out traces of what might have been High Valyrian, but if it was, it was so corrupted I couldn't understand it. Needless to say, we didn't get along.

I tried to be patient. I like to think I even succeeded. At least until one of the poked me with a dragon bone spear. I lost my temper then and gutted him. I tensed and prepared myself, only to be met with laughter.

Only one of them was upset and I think challenged me to a fight if his posture was any indication. It wasn't much of one. My equipment was Valyrian steel and heavily enchanted. He, like the rest of the people, wasn't wearing anything I'd think of as actual armor. He was also only wielding bone weapons.

I also had better potions than he did. Not that I used them. His swing failed to even injure me. My strike neatly severed a leg. I was careful to strike well away from his torso. The reason was simple. He was wearing an elytra.

I ignored it when he punched the ground. I figured it was just out frustration and knowing he was going to die. So I was completely caught off guard when large curves spikes erupted from the ground under me.

It didn't do much damage, but it took me completely surprise. More importantly, I recognized that attack! That was the fang spell from the game. They had magic! Magic I didn't know!

When he died, missing most of his limbs everyone cheered. I felt like doing so myself. I wasted no time in swiping it and getting the recipe. I did give it back immediately afterwards. I didn't want to upset them. Iron bars, leather and glass? I can make my own easy enough.

They were remarkably fine with what had just happened. That might be because of their interest in my armor though. Given how elytra uses iron they probably recognize how similar it is.

They were a lot nicer to me and actually tried to communicate with gestures. We had even shared a meal of very juicy purple fruit and wine that was probably made from it. Given how tense they were before I ate I bet it was their form of guest rights.

In the end I traded a few potions with them as the rest of the crew cut down the obsidian pillars and carried them back to their ship. Given the recipe for elytra, I can understand how thoroughly they searched for the iron bars and collected them.

They left peacefully and cheerfully. That was good. Learning their magic would likely be easier if they helped me. I waved good bye to them. It was a very odd scene in stark contrast to the bleak environment.

When I could no longer see them I wasted no time in securing my base. I coated the entire exterior in endstone to disguise it and then backed it with iron slabs. With just dragon bone tools they wouldn't be able to mine through over a foot of solid iron.

I also placed golems, skeleton archers and traps throughout the complex. I wasn't taking any chances in anyone looting it while I wasn't present.

I ended up using the Exit portal and found out I appeared at the End portal I made. Slightly disappointing, but useful since it made it easy to defend. I went all out when I realized endermen were spawning from it.

An amphitheater setup with several rings of archers created a decent killzone. Along with a layer of water on top of a layer of magma it was a deathtrap for endermen. A small force of heavily armored golems should be enough to contain anything else that arrives.

I guess dragon golems do have a use. A dragon head on a draconic body, all made of Valyrian steel created a golem with four hundred health. Paired with enchanted armor and I ended up with a juggernaught.

I was planning on actually making more since I realized their potential. Sure they were terrible soldiers. They were amazing war beasts though. It would also be hilarious to use them as draft animals at some point where others can see.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I was finally satisfied that my supply lines were secure I returned to use the Gateway portal. I was pretty excited about it. Not only was it a new place to explore, but the gates required Purpur blocks to create. Since those required Chorus trees, here I am exploring.

Only the portal wasn't there. I could see scrape marks on the ground showing where someone had manually broken the gate up to steal. Stealing bastards! That was my portal!

I was furious. I looked for a ship, but the area was remarkably empty. I spend several hours fortifying my base. Mostly it just involved expanding rooms and passages to make room for more guards.

As I was leaving I did note something odd. The Exit portal seemed to have a shiny growth on it. If I didn't know better I'd say it was growing end crystals.

I guess I know where all the dragon skulls came from now. All of a sudden I'm finding myself impressed by the people here. I wonder how they manage to actually kill the dragons. I think I need to learn more about the people here.

Frustrated I leave to get some supplies. Nothing is going to be keeping me from getting my own Gateway portals. Henceforth to be shortened to just Gates.

When I go to gather the supplies I need I pause. The clock shows that it's still noon. There was no way I missed a whole day and I was there for at least three or four hours.

A few quick tests confirm it. The End actually has a faster time stream than either of the other two dimensions I have access too. After a rough estimate I place it at about eight times faster.

That's huge. Combined with my resources I can raise enormous numbers of animals in a fraction of the time. Creatures were my only possible bottleneck before or at least if I needed them. Thinking about it, besides leather I don't really use any animal products. I guess it's yet another exploit that will be shelved for now.

While animals might not be feasible right now, spawners are another story. I waste no time in setting up a few spawner harvester set ups. I'd move all of them here except the portals make any kind of mass transport unfeasible. The best I can do is set up an additional storage site and a train of pack mules.

I wasn't content to stay on the central island though. I also wasn't content to just wait for the dragon to respawn on it's own. No matter how fast the crystals were growing. I was too impatient to wait around for a week or more.

It was the elytra that proved to me just how remarkable Valyrian steel is. The main drawback of using one is how fast it degrades. In the game it's practically a novelty item. Now, soaring out across the void, I am seriously thinking of making this my normal means of transportation.

Of course I had plenty of spare elytra, an entire stack, and enough of rockets to fill half my Inventory. I wasn't taking any chances with falling into the abyss below me. Even if it isn't voidstone, I'm pretty certain it's just as deadly.

I'm not really sure how far it is to cross what I'm already calling the black sea. If it takes more than a few stacks of rockets I'll turn back and try a different approach. After all, obsidian floats here so making a ship shouldn't be too difficult.

I don't even use up half a stack of rockets before I can see land. When I get close enough to make out details I'm surprised. I didn't just find land. I found an end city. Sort of. There were a lot of differences. It was an actual city, not just a few connected towers. Buildings sprawled everywhere, clustering the closest to the edges of the island.

With my vantage point it was easy to see the city was oriented towards the island I had just left behind. It was also far from isolated. It seemed the entire coastline was inhabited. Docks extended from most of the islands and ships of all sizes sailed back and forth.

It seems the ship I had seen was actually on the smaller end of the scale. Massive ships, even larger than the galley I had been designing, existed. And all of them had a dragon's skull mounted on the prow.

The few smaller ships lacked a skull and were the only ones that seemed to require oars. They were also small enough that I could see the obsidian set in the bottom of the hull.

Thankfully elytra seemed to be recognizable since no one panicked at the sight of me. I don't think they were common given how many people stared though. I'm really just glad they didn't try to shoot me out of the sky. I don't really speak their language so I pretty much skipped past them.

It was interesting to note that they had more plants than just Chorus trees. Some kind of silvery bamboo and nether wart were also present. I wondered how they got a hold of the nether wart until I passed over an arena.

The arena was sunken and had walls and guard posts along the edges. It also contained a Nether portal.

That changes things.

Access to the Nether means there is a decent chance I'll come across them at some point. With how I'm currently laid out I don't really have much in the way of defenses. I'm going to need to change that soon.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I kept flying. The islands weren't that big and almost all the settlements seemed to cluster around the edge of the black sea. They shrink in number and size pretty quickly and it wasn't long before I felt comfortable landing.

I manage to get several Chorus flowers as well as stalks of the silvery plant called Crystal Bamboo. They're both growing on endstone so should be easy enough to grow for myself.

I did get attacked by foot long silver centipedes. Freaking silverfish of all things! Why on earth were they in the End? There isn't any stone here!

It turns out they didn't need stone. Nope. They nest inside chorus trees. All the trees seem to be infested with them. I'm going to have to be insanely careful with the flowers I gathered.

The bad thing was they blended in so very well with the crystal bamboo. Combined with how they tried to ambush me as well as swarm and they turned out to be very annoying. If I couldn't fly away they might even have been dangerous.

Still I got my plant and even a new one. This trip was already worth it. Seeing how many difference there were I was curious to see what else there might be. It wasn't even dangerous. I hadn't seen a single flying creature so far and endermen never seemed to look up.

Farther away from what I'm thinking of as the center of this dimension the temperature dropped steadily. Even if I couldn't really feel much the patches of ice would give it away. That and the snow in the air.

Oddly enough the snow didn't seem to falling from anywhere. It was just present. It fell so slowly it seemed to be hovering. It grew thicker as I flew farther long, limiting my vision.

The islands seemed to be less tightly clustered here. They were snow covered so they shone in stark contrast to the water. Around that point I also noticed small patches of ice forming on the water. The black eats everything it touches water freezing just seemed wrong.

Weirdly, the ice was harmless. It also melted into normal water. I guess it explains the few ships I see sailing out here that seem to be collecting blocks of ice. I hadn't seen any springs or rain so their water had to come from somewhere.

I hadn't found anything new yet. Still this was all very new to me. Completely different from anything in the game. I pushed on even as the islands get further apart. I wonder if eventually I'll run out of land completely?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It was soon after I almost ran into the iceberg. I say iceberg, but it was more like a tower of carved ice. It was elaborate too. No crude pillar, it was a square fortified keep with a bartizan on each corner. Each of the fortified balconies as well as the top of the main tower possessed perfectly formed battlements.

It was staffed too. I found that out when I was struck by an arrow. I tried dodging, but the arrow had slowed me down and I ended up flying upwards to give me time to drink some milk.

Even that didn't completely help. Translucent gargoyle-like figures were even now rising from the roof and chasing me. I actually recognized them once I saw they were carrying swords.

Vexes. They're usually a summoned creature. I wonder if that means there's an Evoker inside the tower. Of course, I've already run into a possible Stray if the arrow of slowing is any indication.

Oh well, no use worrying about it now. I gleefully pull out pillars of stone and watch them drop. The snow makes it hard for everyone to see. I manage to catch several vexes and shoot the few I missed.

Below the tower hadn't fared so well. It turns out it really was built out of ice. At least the bartizans were. The pillars shattered each miniature tower and broke them completely off the central keep. I made sure to miss the keep though. No point in taking the chance of destroying any loot.

Oddly, the roof didn't have an entrance. It had a platform protected by battlements, but it seemed to only be used as a roost for the vexes I had killed. Looking over I can see that the bartizans didn't have an entrance either. How the hell did the strays get on the platform?

Whatever. There is no way I'm using the one entrance at the base of the tower. It looks way too much like a trap. I tunnel down through the roof.

So glad minecraft gave me good mining habits. The roof is really thin, only a single block thick. Worse there isn't anything underneath. Just a very long fall.

Looking through the hole I can see a massive throne room that pretty much makes up the entire interior of the keep. An ornate ice throne has a blue robed skeleton sitting on it facing the doors. Huh, maybe the doors weren't a trap after all.

The oddest thing about the room was the tree. It was barely a dozen feet high and seemed to be growing out of the back of the throne. Or maybe the back of the throne was made from the tree. The leaves got in the way.

The tree was new as well. Pure white bark with a silvery sheen, it almost seemed to shimmer. Pale blue leaves that actually did faintly glow clustered around an odd round silver fruit of some kind. The tree was the only source of light in the entire room.

Like the outside the walls were etched to looks like brickwork. There weren't any windows but the walls were carved in a few places to give the impression of banners. Each corner contained a massive ice sculpture of a person. The statues had their arms raised and gave the impression of holding up the roof.

I didn't trust the statues. If they animated there was no room for me to dodge. Besides this is way too convenient. I lean down and select a pallet of stone. I'd use a block normally, but I didn't want the tree to have a chance of stopping it. I watch with glee as the massive block crushes everything beneath it.

Oddly the tree shattered like glass. More fragile than it looked. I guess it wasn't much protection. The tree melts, but a few fruit fall clear. I'm pretty shocked when they burst in a wisp of black smoke which formed into an enderman.

Ok. I really need to get a sample of this tree. I also need to find out how enderman are in the Nether.

Of course it got worse. The statues all animate. Not like it was a problem for me. I widened the hole, set up a turret and mowed down everything. Safely out of reach it just took time. The enderman couldn't teleport high enough to reach me and the statues couldn't reach high enough. Easy.

Seeing nothing moving I swoop down. There was nothing left of the tree. Creatures either. Not sure if it was relevant, but they had all dissolved into water. Well, I did get an ender pearl. Woo.

When I picked up the ender pearl I noticed a faint glow coming from beneath me. The glow was the same shade of blue the trees leaves had been. Looking at it, it wasn't just under me. It was beneath the entire floor, a few layers down.

And it was getting brighter.

I took off as soon as I realized it. I was almost too late.

The floor shattered as something tore through the ice beneath me. I couldn't take the time to look back since I was too busy aiming for the hole I made in the roof. Really don't want to miss that.

The roar caught me by surprise. It was deafening. It slammed into me, a literal wall of sound that almost made me miss my target. Instead I clipped the edge with a wing.

Deaf and disoriented I tumbled through the air. The silver lining was that I at least got to see just what I had escaped. Enormous jaws attached to a body that was still erupting from the ice. A pair of brightly glowing blow eyes. Fangs, scales, claws, wings.

A fucking ice dragon.

I drop several pallets of stone and dash away. I have no confidence in that actually stopping it. If the roar I hear is any indication, I was right. I glance back in time to see the tower explode as wings extend outwards and it launch itself into the air.

Damn. Looks like it's going to chase me. Really really regretting not having a windlance right now. Or an army. Or really, anything that can stop a _full grown undead dragon!_

It's dark enough that I notice the new glow behind me. I look back and see it's mouth open. Oh crap. I point my rocket straight down and dive under the jet of blue flames it breathes towards me.

The flames suck the heat out of the air. It seems odd it still look like fire. Diving isn't enough. I angle back towards the dragon. Closer in he can't turn fast enough to catch me with it's breath.

I'm actually faster than it too. At least as long as I'm using a rocket. Really glad I packed so many of them. The problem is the breath weapon. Because of that I keep close to the dragon.

It turns out easier than you would think. The dragon is massive. It's also clumsy. It lumbers through the air and turns slowly. I on the other hand can turn on a dime. As soon as I realize that I have my plan.

I start peppering the dragon with fire arrows. When it gets close I flit off to the side and resume shooting. It's a bit wasteful since I have to use a new rocket for each dodge. It pays off though.

Soon enough it falls out of the air. It smashed into the island I lured it over. No way was I going to lose any potential loot to the water. Ground bound it was even easier to target. At least until it actually ran away.

I paused in shock when the dragon retreated into the water. I waited but it didn't come up again. No new glacier. Nothing.

Son of a … MY LOOT!


	13. All Aboard

Chapter 13 All Aboard

Frustrated I return to my base. Screw the frozen area. I'll try again when I'm in a better mood and have time to actually waste.

Once back I don't waste any time in setting up farms for crystal bamboo and chorus trees. I'm really glad I test it out there too. It turns out the chorus trees still have silverfish infesting them. Testing them doesn't give me a way to stop it either.

Silverfish just seem to randomly spawn from chorus trees. Worse, they can infest stone blocks and spawn from them as well. They're more aggressive than in the game. If they ever get out I can easily see them devastating enormous sections of the world.

At least they can't climb. Growing the trees in endstone lined pits seem to work well enough for now. It's not like I'm going to need enormous amounts of them. I'm just happy I can finally build Gates!

I actually assemble my first one back on Lorassyon just so I can actually see how far it reaches. I measure and estimate that it covers five thousand blocks. It seems like a random number. Not really sure why it's that amount.

I also can't seem to alter the destination at all. It sends me exactly five kilometers forward unless I would appear inside something solid. Than it stops short. Even out to sea works. I just appear in the air.

I can alter it slightly as long as I build a second portal and link them. There is only a hundred meter leeway though and the linking is permanent. All the conditions seem really arbitrary.

Still. Teleportation no matter how conditional will be invaluable to my plans.

Crystal bamboo is almost better than the chorus trees. It's the most versatile plant I've encountered so far according to my powers. If I had this back when I was first starting I would be much further along. Well, it would have given me a head start at least.

The plant can be used in both mature and immature stages. It's fully grown when it reaches twenty feet. If it's harvested at any point before then it counts as immature. Young shoots don't drop seeds but can be processed to yield string or sugar. They can also be eaten or used as livestock feed.

It was when they were full grown that they proved so amazing. When the bamboo was fully grown the sap, in a process that was basically magic, hardened into something like glass. The stalks could then be smelted for the glass, somehow processed for paper or just substituted for sticks.

None of that was really special to me now since I've established myself. Which was why it was almost better. It would have been amazing to have much earlier. Still a renewable source of glass and sugar can always come in useful.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The whole time I experimented with my new plants I kept an eye on the Exit portal. I have no intention of being caught by surprise. Not that I should be since I made sure to smash one of the crystals. The dragon shouldn't show without all four crystals.

Like I hoped the one I smashed is growing at the same rate as before. I estimate a crystal, from start to finish, will take about two months to grow. Leaving the dimension confirmed it. Eight days in the overworld later and a new dragon appeared in the End.

It was much easier this time. I only waited a week so had several days to prepare. I made sure to keep the island clear of enderman. Not easy when they can stand on the water and seem to be drawn there.

I flooded the island with troops. A thousand spider jockeys roamed the island, all waiting for my command. I had TNT rigged to collapse the towers after they spawned and endstone bunkers scattered around. I didn't have a windlance still, but I did set up a dozen arrow storm turrets.

Honestly it felt like overkill. I would have been too if I hadn't been attacked right in the middle of the fight.

The crystals finished growing on time. As close as I can tell exactly sixty four days in total. Right away pillars of light fell from the sky onto the land where the obsidian pillars stood. The light made it very obvious when the pillars rose from the ground.

The crystals I placed all shattered and the exit portal is replaced with a pillar of fire. That... wasn't in the game. I hate when things change. I hear the roar of a dragon and see beams of energy from all of the pillars so I hope it's working.

Abruptly the fire cuts off and there's an ender dragon perched on top of the portal.

"First Wave!" The spider jockeys waiting for the command rush up the pillars, intent on destroying the crystals. I have two more waves just in case, but the dragon seems to be ignoring them.

I almost attack when it crouches oddly and does something surprising. It lays an egg. What the hell? Does it do this if there isn't an egg there?

While I'm thinking it finished and takes off. It scorches the pillars, but it's too late. Without any end crystals to worry about I give the order for everything to attack. My second wave climbs up to give themselves vantage points and everything on the ground fills the air with arrows.

I watch my plan unfold perfectly. At this rate I won't even have to join. And the dragon makes a pass. That's a lot of dead skeletons. Why can't they scatter? Stupid simple minions.

And that's when my plan fell apart. Three ships pull up. Some of the largest I've seen and each one packed with soldiers. Well, if soldiers meant viking berserkers. Screaming, barely armored men charging strait into battle. No plan, no formations. Idiots.

At least these men had some armor. I might even admire it if it wasn't made from wood. I recognized the materials, the armor was made from crystal bamboo. It's ironic that warriors who act like vikings seem to be armored like samurai.

The armor is very pretty I'll grant you. Not like that should matter. Judging by the way they move it's also very light, but in the face of the dragon seems pretty pointless. Maybe it helps against endermen?

And of course I can't forget about their magic. Still not sure how it works but rows of spikes extend from a few of them. A few of them even use elytra to land in the middle of a group of skeletons before causing skeletal jaws to burst from the ground.

They're attack came at the worst time. My skeletons aren't smart enough to fight two enemies at the same time. Their armor is good enough that the archers can't just mowing them down. Instead of supporting my rapidly dwindling supply of skeletons I have to use my turret against this new enemy.

Sure their armor is good enough to stop an arrow or two. A stream of arrows lets me cut down a whole swath of them. And since they're vikings, they all charge me. A dozen or so in the lead are suddenly covered in spectral scales so shelter the rest from my arrows.

I keep shooting until they get close. Then I put up a wall and drop a pallet of TNT before retreating. I sprint to the next turret even the explosion wipes out my closest pursuers. At least that part works. I swing behind the next turret and resume firing.

They're using shields now. I'm impressed, I didn't think they were capable of any kind of tactics. It's crude, but still recognizable as a shield wall. Worse some of them are putting up walls made of woven bones. My arrows can eventually chew through them, but it lets them take cover.

I pull out one of my special turrets and proceed to set everything on fire. It was intended for a naval battle, but this seems desperate enough to justify. Fire charges blanket the island, especially where they're standing. I'd normally hesitate, but the dragon hadn't been idle. I don't really have any troops left to worry about.

With the island burning I take off. Using a rocket I jet over to the ships. After the mess they made there was no way I was going to let any of them survive.

Working on a theory I cut free and store the dragon skull from each ship. Just in case I also use TNT to put a hole in the side of each ship and then collapse the masts. No use taking chances.

Not sure if it was my efforts or not, but none of the ships attempted to leave. Between the dragon and the fires everyone died. At least I assume so. I know I wasn't bothered by anyone while I was building golems.

Afterwards it was fine. The golems didn't do much more than distract it, but that's all I needed. The dragon preferred them since I bunkered down in an endstone hut. From there I used a turret to whittle down it's health.

Then I had to clear out the ships. Of course they weren't all nice enough to all die. Inconsiderate bastards. They had taken shelter in the remains of their ships. At least my sabotage kept them from escaping.

When I send my troops in I keep careful watch, but it seems it was unnecessary. None of the survivors used any magic. Not sure why, but at least it meant my golems had an easy time of it.

When it was finally over I really wanted a drink. Gods that was horrible. I really hope I'm not going to keep having problems with the natives.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Salvaging the ships is pretty straight forward. I just tore it apart and stored everything. Their lack of variety in materials made it pretty easy. The only thing of note I discovered was an enchanted chair.

Seems like I was right about the skulls. The chair lets me see through the skull's eyes and control the ship like my boats. Simple, easy and apparently beyond my ability to recreate. Well, without access to Osteomancy. Which seems aptly named from what I've seen.

At least it lets me know they do have their own branch of magic. More than enough reason to not wipe them all out. At least until after I get a chance to learn it.

What I could do though was make use of that I stole. It was simple to built a ship and set up a skull and control chair in it. Testing out various ship builds takes quite a bit of time since I have to keep building and tearing apart the ship.

Using the chair is an odd sensation. It's like playing a video game in a way. You can see what the skull sees, but it's like a screen set across the room. Clear, easy to make out, but also lets you keep track of what else is in the room. Well, as long as you don't get distracted. And of course if all of this is internal.

Of course the skull had limits on what it could propel. It didn't help I had to conduct the tests twice. Obsidian isn't exactly a buoyant material in the overworld. I couldn't assume anything would work the same.

When I finally finished my testing I secure my base in the End and leave. I don't intent to return for quite a while.

Then I build myself a ship in the overworld. I build as heavy a ship as possible crossing the designs of a carrack with a whaling vessel. I wanted something as close to unsinkable as possible. It had a hull several feet thick so it sat fairly low in the water. Combined with the lack of a mast and it had a very small profile for it's size.

Of course I don't just rely on normal materials. I set up several wardstones and runes throughout the ship. Fire resistant, protection, unbreakable, mending I stack as many enchantments as I can fit in the hull. I just regret not having any iron wood yet. Hopefully one of the merchant families will come through soon.

The ship was enormous for a wooden vessel, sitting at sixty meters long and twenty across. Almost every ship I've seen here was only half that. Even with the thick hull and internal supports I had a ridiculous amount of space.

I set aside the area under the poop deck for myself. I ended up an enormous suite, a crafting area, a storage area, as well as a tiny barracks. The barracks only housed a few dozen golems, but they were more to protect the control chair than the rest of the ship.

The cargo hold normally would take up the bottom deck or two. Mine barely spanned a few rooms worth of space. Instead the rest of the bottom deck was filled with an elaborate farm. Aside from the lack of spawners my ship was just as self sufficient as any of my waypoints. I can even generate wood by growing trees on the top deck.

It was when I was arming my ship that I felt regret. The Windlance would have been perfect for naval warfare. Any siege weapon really. I have a few arrow storm turrets, but that's not nearly enough to sink a ship.

Of course I carry a dispenser filled with fire charges and dynamite arrows, but I don't want the defense to rely on my presence. Hopefully the troops will be enough.

My top deck was a dedicated barracks contain an army of undead to repel boarders. My undead troops are all outfitted with armor and weapons. They're also wearing the same two layers of armor I am. Except of course they it's made from plain steel. No way am I going to bother making that much Valyrian steel. Not that they really need it. With how thick their armor was they should be more than capable of holding off an army by themselves.

They all look pretty bizarre since they're also wearing jack o'lanterns as well. Stupid weakness to sunlight. I'm using a mixture of skeleton archers and mummies for my army. It's not like speed matters much when confined to a ship.

Originally I wanted baby zombies, I could have packed so many more inside my hull compared to anything else. However even as callous as I am, sacrificing actual babies is a bit much. Even the thousand troops I do create take forever to equip.

I've only used a fraction of the space, but it was way too tedious to keep assembling them. If I wanted tedium I would just have settled down somewhere was a merchant prince or craftsman.

My ship might just be too big. I feel like I have an entire island and no idea what to do with most of it. My barracks were intended to fill an entire floor and are only a third full. Now I have three more decks and no idea what to do with them.

In the end I use the space to create a fabric farm. Artificial pasture for sheep, an extra tall area for crystal bamboo and a heavily fortified spider farm. I don't like risking one of my spawners, but I'm going to need the silk.

Sailing is slow. The trip is going to weeks or even months and I refuse to waste that time. No one has experience with airships so there isn't any point waiting to experiment with them.


	14. Sea Battle

Chapter 14 Sea Battle

My trip did not start off well. First off my project didn't progress. I forgot to consider the fact that I was the only person who could control the boat. Well, unless I didn't mind straight lines that might crash into a cliff. Besides that, piloting is really really boring. It wasn't long at all before I turned back around and swung by Lorath to hire a pilot.

It turns out that I don't need a navigator. Buying a few maps had unlocked options for that item with my powers. I can now create large, detailed maps perfect for mapping out the world. I still have to journey there, but I'm already putting together the beginnings of an atlas.

Sadly, none of the families had finished their tasks yet. I guess it was too much to hope given it had only been a few weeks. My time sense was really screwed up from all my trips to the End.

I did pick up some craftsman to start working a few project for me. None of them were masters of their craft, but something was better than nothing at this point. Besides, how difficult could it be to recreate ancient siege engines given my knowledge?

In the meantime I began my experiments with hot air balloons.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The craftsman turned out to be a mixed blessing. I was right about the weapons. They managed to recreate almost everything I wanted. I now had recipes for an onager, catapult and perrier. They were all a bit small since they couldn't exceed two meters but still quite powerful.

The problem was that it was more dangerous than I realized. Injuries were common and I had to use potions to heal them frequently. Hell they even tried to stop working more than once. I was forced to throw one overboard and leave him to drown before the rest went back to work.

Still, I don't know why were upset. I paid them generously. I fed them well. Sure they sometimes lost fingers or limbs, but I regrew them. This world is harsh! Why are they so scared of a little pain?

They still whined nearly constantly. I really don't know why they were so upset. I healed them and besides the one example I made they all survived. Finally I just lost my patience and kill them all. I didn't even feel like I was betraying them. They're the ones that tried to go on strike. Idiots. Didn't they learn how I respond to anyone who betrays me by now?

Why do people here suck so bad? Oh well. I console myself with the thought that I hadn't really wanted knowledge of the siege engines and balloons to get out anyway.

So I'm down to my last option. Slaves. It's not my favorite idea, but I only need a few years service. By that point most of my projects should be done. To appease my rapidly shrinking conscious I resolve to free them with a generous severance package afterwards.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I had skipped Braavos but wasn't about to pass up Pentos. Pentos was a large trade hub with a variety of products, but there was one thing I was interested in more than anything. Cheese.

I managed to buy a few different cheeses but still missed the variety from my old life. Cheese used to be one of my favorite foods and I missed it. It was one of my strongest minor complaints. How can cheddar not be a staple food? And Pentos had a reputation for the finest cheeses in the world.

They were very cautious of me at first. It made sense. My ship dwarfed any of theirs and they barely had a dozen galleys present. The harbormaster and guards were a bit cautious, but otherwise very polite. Once I convinced them I was only here for a brief stop to buy a few things they were more than welcoming.

I had no problems agreeing to their polite suggestions to limit how many my personal guards to bring. I only intended to take a few anyway. I anchored a bit off to the side and proceeded to fill an entire chest with my favorite foods.

I even pick up a few translators. They were called bond servants instead of slaves, but otherwise pretty much the same. Even better just paying them a decent wage automatically frees them after a few years.

They were all incredibly grateful when I explained my plans for them. Good. Hopefully I won't end up having to kill them for revealing secrets. I really do need to be able to interrogate the people living in the End. And in the meantime they can give me lessons. Speaking more languages is always good.

For a hypocritical 'free' city Pentos was a very nice place. I did make a quick check, but it seems my siblings weren't there. Oh well.

My reception at Myr was almost identical. A wary welcome, very politely worded requests and then shopping.

It makes me wonder if Braavos and the Iron Bank would have treated me much more respectfully if I had arrived in a giant warship. Probably. For all their claims to being a beacon of culture and civilization my experiences with them were fairly negative.

I was very impressed with the city. Large windows, intricate metalwork and elaborate architecture made the city the most beautiful I've seen so far. The place was very organized too. I didn't have to deal with a single pickpocket or mugger while I walked around.

The merchants were just as respectful. As long as I had money they treated me just like any other customer. A very few times a slight demonstration of my powers was needed, but everything was kept very formal. Veiled threats and subtle displays of power. There is something vaguely wrong about actually enjoying the experience of shopping for people.

Why in the world are slavers the nicest people I've run into? Maybe prolonged isolation isn't the healthiest thing for me.

In the end I buy several dozen artisans. I eagerly settled them on my ship and put them to work. I had them begin improving my siege engines by incorporating metal into them. After all there was only so much wood and rope could do. I also had artisans restarting my windlance project as well as recreating various other items.

I might not need everything they're working on but it always pays to have more options.

Honestly given how I was being treated by the various places I was beginning to wonder if spreading slavery would be better for me. I blame how messed up this world is for the fact that the idea doesn't immediately strike me as inherently wrong.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Tyrosh was a disaster. It started off familiarly enough. I was met with a warship, talked with the harbormaster and docked off to the side. We were all very polite and respectful and in the end I went shopping.

This time I was looking to buy a smith who specialized in decorative work. Something Tyrosh is famous for. I wanted to recreate the helm of the inquisition from Dragon Age. I wanted all of my troops wearing a helmet that clearly says they're mine.

I wanted a smith because I don't know what color I wanted it to be. Also so I can have matching armor eventually. Maybe thematically redesign my siege engines as well.

When the man dressed in a bright green outfit approached I didn't really pay attention. Bright colors seem to be the theme here, even their armor is brightly colored. It gives the city festive air.

I only really noticed him when he offered to buy my ship. Laughing to his face wasn't the politest thing to do, but I couldn't help myself. My ship was currently the most powerful one in existence. It was also massive and took forever to build . There wasn't he could offer that was worth the hassle of making another.

I brushed off his pathetic attempts as intimidation. One of his guards tried to grab me and was promptly crushed by my golem. I didn't even react, amazed anyone was stupid enough to go up against someone who had four guards who all stood nine feet tall.

I would have let it go, but the idiot actually called in more men. I ended up with over twenty armed men surrounding me. It wasn't even a contest. The golems waded through them like cardboard.

I settled for pulling out a bow and sniping a few men. The green idiot just watched. He didn't even try to run until the last few men were being put down. I took great pleasure in shooting him in the back.

Annoying, but not really note worthy. I didn't even need to pull out a turret.

Except he was related to the Archon. So the ruler of the city just lost a nephew. And of course family and blood ties are what everyone cares about on Planetos. So I cut my losses.

It would have just been a short, failed shopping trip if my ship wasn't being attacked. Almost half a dozen various ships were surrounding it. The burning remains of two more were sinking. Even from the harbor you could hear fighting.

I was delighted to note the sheer volume of screams from my ship. Looks like my guards are doing their job. Still, all those ships couldn't have attacked this quickly. The attack had to have begun before the ponce confronted me. Which means this counts as betrayal.

First things first, time to save my ship and all my valuable help. I rocketed over, leaving behind my guards with orders to go berserk. I wasn't going to retrieve them, they were only obsidian.

In a way I was relieved. I had seriously been worried that slavery was somehow making people nicer on this world. It was good to know everyone is equally corrupt.

Turns out my guards were more than a match for unarmored men. They were grinding any assaults into hamburger. I took a minute to watch and admire my work. Work every minute I spent making them.

I used my naval turret to make sure all the ships that attacked burned. Don't like survivors. Shooting them down pissed off the harbormaster. Of course he didn't have a good excuse for why they were trying to take over my ship.

Inspection crew my ass. That doesn't apply unless I actually transfer cargo. Shopping trips do not qualify. I shot him and set his ship on fire as well.

I don't put up a tower and turret here. No I can now fly.

I spend all afternoon making bombing runs. When I'm finally done they didn't have a single functional dock or ship. I also make a point of leveling their Bleeding Tower, which normally protects their main harbor.

Since it was still early evening I decided to resume my shopping trip. I made a point of landing a full platoon of golems. It was a quiet trip. After my show of force everyone was terrified of me. They scurried around scared they would draw my attention. Even the few times unsullied launched suicidal attacks they didn't speak.

I wander around and grab anything that catch my attention. I liberated a whole group of the skilled slaves rather than the one or two I was looking for. Since I wanted them to stay afterwards I even made sure to pick up their families if they had one.

Why not? It's not like going to pay for anything here.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

So pirates aren't the nicest people. They are also very very dumb. Sure some have other reason, but overall? Dumb as a box of rocks.

Unfair you think? Nope. I had just sailed away from Tyrosh _after burning their entire fleet_ when I was set upon by pirates. Worse, after I destroyed them more showed up.

They were like lemmings. Just mindlessly charging to their doom. If I had unlimited ammunition this would be just like an arcade game. Instead it's frustrating.

There were dozens of boats and they didn't stop. They also didn't burn fast enough and several managed to reach me. Since I was using the turret I couldn't even maneuver. My ship was heavily enchanted, but already I could make out scorch marks on the hull.

When the turret clicked dry I couldn't believe it. That was nine stacks worth of fire charges! How have I not run out of enemies yet?

Looking around I realize just how bad the my situation had gotten. At some point the pirate ships, which were mostly longships, had been replaced by war galleys. The new ships were all flying the standard of house Redwyne. I think I registered the change because the ships were harder to sink, but didn't recognize what it meant.

I was now fighting ships from Westeros.

I take stock of my situation. My ship trapped within a sea of flaming wreckage. If not for the enchantments I'd have already sunk. The wreckage isn't all bad. It's keeping any other ships from getting close enough to board.

As it is I already have boarders, soldiers who had made it from their burning ships. Pockets of soldiers even now were desperately battling across the deck. I keep an eye on them but my troops seem to have the situation under control.

If I'm facing the Redwyne fleet then... I quickly start surveying the north with a spyglass. Aand, yep. There they are. The royal fleet.

This doesn't make sense! Using two entire fleets just for me is insane! Not that King Robert is the sanest person, but all this to kill one person?

Unless it wasn't one person.

I hadn't run into my siblings yet. What if they were here? I can easily see Robert using everything to finally wipe out the last of my house.

Which means they're here. Most likely back in Tyrosh.

With the waves I've made they're in a lot of danger. Just the possibility of powers like mine will have them hunted. There is only one way to ensure they don't get killed. I need to find them first.

I just hope I didn't kill them by accident.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Of course I didn't forget about the two fleets surrounding me. I was out of fire charges and dynamite arrows. I had also used most of my TNT bombing Tyrosh. I can salvage my rockets, except I don't have any sand.

In the end I go a different route. I build raised walkways on either side of the ship. I fill them with skeleton archers. Every single one is holding a flaming arrow. The product of one of my experiments it automatically set it's target on fire.

I quickly cover the deck in iron slabs since they won't burn away. I wince when the ship groans and sinks several feet. This is going to make moving horrible slow. I really need to get a recipe for something much thinner for the future.

I leave orders for the archers to shoot every ship within range and retreat back to my rooms. I get in the control chair and began my escape.

My ship, which really needs a name, slowly pushed forwards. From my point of view all I can see is what looks like a burning forest. I wonder if I can raise the skull higher. Maybe place it on top of a mast?

My low speed gives more than enough time for several ships to intercept. I don't slow down even as it looks like I just ran face first into another ship. Really glad the link is only visual. I tear through the opposing ships easily.

I didn't add iron slabs just to the deck. I had also covered part of the keel. The prow in particular had been extended outwards by several feet. Now it acted like a massive blade as I literally tore through my enemies.

They tried to slow me down, but nothing worked. Grappling hooks had their lines snapped and anything blocking the way was sunk. I helped that even with the added weight my ship was still faster and much more agile.

My ship proved unstoppable. Rather than escape, once I was free to move I aimed for the center of the Redwyne fleet. I imagine I was terrifying sight. A gigantic ship, smoking from battle relentlessly ramming ship after ship.

It didn't take long for the fleet to break, ships scattering in an attempt to run away. I took the time to remove most of the iron. What was left of my battering ram was deformed and half melted. Probably should have enchanted it. Oh well. It lasted long enough.

I also took back the fire arrows. It would be pretty pathetic to sink myself after winning such a large fight.

Not that the fighting was over. I had defeated my enemies. Now it was time to destroy them.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO – oooO**

I built up high walls, extending over twenty feet high. Three rings of arrow slits, all of them manned. My ship looked more like a wooden tower in the middle of the sea than a ship. It was also practically immobile. So I built a new ship.

It was sleet and slender. A hundred feet long and only a dozen wide. A rapier instead of a fortress. I moved the dragon skull and control chair over. I used barely any wood this time. Most of my ship was iron. Combined with the new wardstones I shouldn't have any problems.

The armored prow was now replaced by an actual battering ram. Instead of a massive blade I now had a cluster of long spikes. Each one was heavily enchanted. The dragon skull also now sat on top of a short mast, giving me a much better point of view.

It was meant more for speed than cargo so it was designed much like a longboat. The main difference though were the two outriggers. Large, streamlined and hollow they should provide a great deal of buoyancy. Not enough to hydroplane, but every bit of speed helps.

Building all of this took time and I was surprised that I could still see ships all around me. I keep forgetting how slow everything moves. Since I had time I christened both of my ships and painted their name on the side.

My main ship would be the Dauntless. My newest one would be the Interceptor. It seemed an appropriate tribute to one of the few pirate movies I still remembered. I tacked on HMS as well. I hadn't noticed anyone here using it.

Besides 'Your Majesty' sounded way more appropriate than 'Your Grace'. Dragon's symbolized raw unstoppable power, not elegance and poise.

Chasing down the first ship drove home a point. Everything here moves so slow. Even my ship, as fast as it was, took almost an hour to run down my first victim. I was just glad I aimed for the group that contained the flagship. No way was I going to do this again.

Obviously I hadn't had time to really test my ram. The results were everything I had hoped for. I forgot how fragile normal ships are. My ram isn't just a cluster of long iron spikes. I can't enchant blocks and wardstones don't provide weapon powers. No, I used enchanted weapons and embedded them in the ram.

Each of the seven spires were tipped with a spear enchanted with power and sharpness to increase penetration. They also had reinforced plating enchanted with thorns. Then a cluster of gold swords, each enchanted with flame and knockback. I would have used knives or more spears, but the swords were convenient.

My ship barely slowed down. The ram slid into the other ship with barely any resistance. Then the secondary ring struck. It was like a bomb went off. Flaming wood rained down all around me as I moved straight through the now gaping hole in my target. Even as I moved on it was already breaking apart.

I refined my tactics. I was destroying the ships easily enough, but I wanted to destroy their morale. I wanted them terrified of the idea of facing me again.

When I struck the flagship I twisted. My ship thrashed back and forth like a shark, each touch causing more explosions. I didn't punch a hole in the flagship. I tore it apart.

I moved back and forth across the wreckage. Since I wasn't about to chase any other ships I wanted to make a statement. I purposefully hunted down and rammed every survivor I could find.

Then I turned north. The royal fleet hadn't been idle, but the sheer volume of burning wood had prevented them from approaching me before. They hadn't given up though. Slowly they had picked their way through, nudging aside burning hulks and even sinking a few to clear a path.

As I sped across the waters I watched them surround and assault the HMS Dauntless. The high walls were proving effective as stopping boarders, although I could already see people slowly scaling them using grappling hooks. The mummies seemed to be repelling boarders easily, but the distance made it hard to tell.

I did note only a single ship attempted to ram. The sight of it shattering against the Dauntless was enough to prevent another attempt. Well that and the knowledge that you automatically doomed yourself. Flaming arrows were almost automatically setting on fire every ship approaching within a few hundred yards.

Despite my short mast with mounted dragon skull my new ship had a tiny profile. I wasn't really surprised no one noticed me until it was too late. Even as screams of warning sounded I slammed into my first ship.

With this many targets I went for efficiency so I moved on immediately to my next target. I probably should have waited longer. Only about half the royal fleet had made it through the wreckage. They were trapped with me, but the rest managed to flee.

It would have taken days to try to run them down. It wasn't worth it. I spare a thought for the possible location of my siblings. Screw it all. I'm going home.


	15. Coronation

Chapter 15 Coronation

Leaving wasn't an immediate process. Since I only had one dragon skull with me I had to break down the HMS interceptor. Good bye dear ship, you served me well. The worse part was that I couldn't recover any of the weapons I used in making my ram, instead I got a recipe. While potentially useful for later, it's extremely annoying right now.

Then I had to remove all the addtions to the HMS Dauntless. I definitely wanted to make my way back at a speed higher than crawl. I was so happy to be using slaves. They didn't whine about the fact that I was just in a battle or even the blood running down the stairs. After the day I had I would have happily killed everyone aboard for some peace and quiet.

It was hard to believe how insane everything had gone within the span of a single day.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Getting my new employees settled in was pretty easy although it did take some work. Impatient I had them wait while I massively expanded my base in the End to accommodate them all. I fully intended to abuse the time dilation as much as possible.

I was pretty generous when setting up their living quarters. After all I wanted them to stay after being freed. It was almost an entire town just for them. It was underground though. I had no desire to find they had been wiped out by the natives.

Hopefully they won't feel too claustrophobic. Since endermen can teleport anywhere there is at least ten feet of room I made sure the ceiling was never more than eight feet high. Other than teleporting there isn't any way into the town.

I built the town on one of the outer islands and buried deep inside. The natives had no idea what was beneath them. Even if they did, a thick warded layer of iron sheathed everything, including the livestock fields. The only access point was a single gate back to my base in the End.

I emphasized the trust and free reign I was giving them. I even stayed with them for the first week to work out any logistical issues. The families were more useful than I had thought. They could tend crops and livestock to support the rest. Bonemeal of course, made it all much easier.

I'm not sure if they'll need it, but they even have their own dungeon. A few rooms are already in use, housing people I've captured for my translators to interrogate. The sooner I learn their language the sooner I can learn about their magic.

Building the base taught me a few things. Endstone does float, sort of. It takes a lot of it, but the islands aren't actually anchored to a sea floor. They aren't anchored at all. Instead the water seems to get denser as you go deeper. Far enough down and endstone does float. Finding that out almost killed me more than once.

Breaking through the bottom of the island taught me a lot. The black water is horrifically persistent. It pours through the gap I cut as if pressurized. Given it's odd density it probably is. Only a quick leap and frantic layering of blocks saves me. Even the few drops that touched me went straight through my armor and burned.

It would make the scariest poison ever if I could actually use it. The problem was storage. Endstone was much too fragile and crumbles easily. Obsidian was worse. A few tests revealed it wasn't as resilient as I had thought. It's much slower, but it still wears out. The sailors here are much braver than I realized to risk their life in ships slowly rotting out from under them.

But that all revealed that there was a definite limit to how far down I can build and it wasn't nearly far enough. So I went sideways. It was one of the worst ideas I've ever had and I almost died more than once, but I built an underwater tunnel connecting the island to the next one over.

I expanded the connection as quickly as possible and then reinforced it. Even if the islands seemed to be perfectly stationary I wasn't taking any chances. Besides more room is better and I had all that endstone I had just mined out available.

Soon enough I was done. Now my underground town was only located in the few upper layers. Three floors down and there was only a single massive layer shared between the two islands. I'll probably put a second town on the far end eventually.

I turned it into pastures. Animal products were the only resource I couldn't endlessly produce with my powers. I really didn't like the idea of any kind of resource limitations. Hell I even figured out how to generate water.

It was the frozen tower that had given me the idea. When the ice melts it didn't turn into black water, but normal water. So I enchanted some boots with frostwalker and build a cistern of black water. A quick walk later, by a minion of course, and I had a layer of ice. More minions to remove the ice and place on a slide made from magma and I had an endless water fountain. A sluice gate with more black water destroyed any excess water.

Once again I come a conclusion I've reached before. My god are my powers broken when it comes to resource generation.

So I now have a small town. Very small since it held less than a hundred people. Provided this works out I am definitely going to expand. Still if there is one thing this dimension has given me, it's time.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

So it turns out my trip had more repercussions than I had realized. Rumors had spread like wildfire about what I had done at Tyrosh. Calling it the greatest naval battle since one of my ancestors had conquered the Stepstone islands.

Sailing past Lorath in my giant ship with scorch marks I hadn't bothered to fix confirmed it for most people. What I didn't expect was how Lorath responded to my new reputation.

I visit Lorath monthly to check on the progress of the various merchant family quests. I knew it was too early to expect any progress, but I was hopeful. What I was not expecting was to be met by a committee. A whole crowd of people had gathered for my monthly meeting, only some of whom I recognized.

I made the rest wait until I had gotten my reports over with. No progress sadly. They didn't leave after reporting either. Instead they watched as several other stepped forward. I recognized the prince I've had dealings with before. Not sure about the others.

Turns out they had three princes. They had a proposal for me. One that took me completely by surprise. They wanted me to lead Lorath. The hell?

As they kept talking, I could piece together their reasoning. It even made an odd kind of sense.

It seems I had shaken up the balance of power so bad that they were once more in charge. I hadn't realized before that they were largely ceremonial. Now that they had power they wanted to keep it. Or as much of it as possible. Hence putting me in charge and them serving in my council.

In a twisted kind of way I could even see it. For this world their logic was perfectly valid. Based on my actions I was pretty close to ideal as a leader.

I was powerful. Everything I had done had cemented that fact. Lorath wasn't the most powerful city state even before my rampage. I could turn that around.

I was successful. My shopping trips had confirmed that. I had already spent enormous amounts of resources. And of course my ship, both it's construction and capabilities, were beyond anything anyone else had.

I wasn't a colossal dick. They didn't say that, but it was pretty easy to infer. Words like reasonable response and justifiable retaliation were used. Apparently not slaughtering them and enslaving the survivors was considered merciful.

And that was it. The total sum of why they wanted me in charge. God this place sucks.

Of course, I accepted. I needed a loyal and most importantly intelligent support base. It was the only thing holding me back at this point.

After agreeing to be king they held a short ceremony. The others graciously agreed to wait to speak to me. That was pretty nice of them. Also probably meant they wanted something. Eh. I'll deal with it when it comes up.

It seems they had prepared ahead of time. The whole city turned up within a few hours. The cheering the announcement garnered just felt plain wrong. It was not that long ago that they would flee in terror at the sight of me. Did ruling them really make that much of a difference?

I made some kind of speech. I kept it short. No kid is ever going to sound inspirational. Scary maybe if japanese horror is any indication, but thats more from being creepy. Squeaky voices just don't have as much impact.

I didn't really pay attention to what I was saying. I was way too busy making plans. I was also trying to figure out how to ensure loyalty or at least keep people from betraying me. Hopefully my reputation will do that since I couldn't think of anything else.

Afterwards I funded a massive coronation party. The princes had already arranged one, but I expanded it. While waiting for people to gather I had made a quick trip back to Lorassyon. There was now absolutely no danger of running out of food or drink. I'll take every bit of good will I can get.

I wandered around talking to my new citizens. They were pretty happy overall. Still seems really weird to me. Are they really so used to horrible lords that I looked good in comparison?

I don't even know why I asked. Of course I do. This world is filled with people like Joffrey.

Well, at least it makes my job easier.

Talking to them reveals a lot more information as well. It seems the princes had put in a lot of work with public opinion. The people seemed to blame the magisters for well, pretty much everything right now. How they missed out on the fact that I was the one gunning down everyone in sight I'm not sure.

I do confirm the princes as part of my council and the rulers of the city. I make a point of letting them know in private that if they abuse their power I will kill them. I don't want an unhappy populace. Otherwise I'm happy to not have to actually rule.

There is another reason everyone seems so eager to accept me. It also turns out they really don't like Braavos. My attack there seemed to be the talk of the town. They kept asking me for details on what I destroyed.

Everyone also seems excited at the idea of becoming a dominant power. They actually wanted a royal naval. How crazy is that?

Well at least the HMS label works now. I wonder if 'your majesty' will end up replacing 'your grace'?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

After the party I made time to talk with the others. They had been good sports about the delay so I was pretty polite to them. Even if they wanted something at least they weren't rude and demanding. They were a pretty diverse group of people.

The first to greet me was loud and very very friendly. I definitely don't like being kissed by a man, even if it isn't sexual. Although knowing who it was, it might have been. Well, probably not considering I was child. First time I was glad to be stuck in a child's body.

Oberyn Martell looked almost exactly like he did in the show. A bit younger of course. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Does that mean this is the show universe? A mix?

He was also alone which was pretty unusual. Both the books and the show agreed on how taken he was with his mistress. Maybe he hasn't met her yet?

I'm actually surprised he's here. I sent the letter but I only expected a letter back. At best I thought they would send a messenger. I guess they really wanted the Mountain's skull. If King Robert hears about this he'll go nuts.

Ah.

King Robert. With my recent victory I guess it isn't nearly had dangerous to support me as it was before. Well that and Oberyn does have a reputation for being reckless.

He also has a reputation for being suave and unflappable. It didn't stop him from gaping in shock when I pulled out the Mountain's skull from my Inventory. I presented it with a flourish. You have to enjoy the little things.

He was saved by a woman. I guess Oberyn has met Ellaria. She's just shown up, obviously pregnant. I greet her politely even if she ruined me fun. I'd glare but as a kid it'd just look cute. And now I'm back to being annoyed at being a kid.

She seems surprised by how polite I am. I forgot how harsh this world is towards bastards. Eh, it's not like I care anything about legitimacy.

Hmm. Maybe I can use that somehow. Maybe establish a school or order of knights or something.

My next visitor breaks that train of thought. The grey robes and chain around his neck means he's a maester. It wasn't until he introduced himself as Marwyn that I relaxed. He was cagey about why he was here, but I can guess.

I guess the fact I have magic is well and truly out in the open. Which means I might have to deal with the Citadel. I can't remember if it was fanon or not that they were trying to stamp out magic. Still, Marwyn was always shown as a supporter of magic so he should be safe enough.

I am more than happy to allow him to stay. I really want my own raven service. Actually maybe he could run a school?

The last guest was the most interesting. Tall with black skin and glowing red tattoos. It was obvious he had some kind of magic. He introduced himself as Moqorro the Black Flame, priest of R'hllor. Called it. So blood magic probably.

Like Marwyn he wanted to stay, which I didn't mind. He stated that he was sent to guide me. Which if he means teach me his magic is great. If he means anything else well there's going to be problems. I'm a firm believer in separation of church and state. It's one of the reasons I don't want to be called God-king.

At least he hasn't proclaimed me the Azor Ahai reborn. Although I probably could make a decent case for actually being Azor Ahai. I can easily build a flaming Valyrian steel sword and call it Lightbringer.

Makes me wonder if the first Azor Ahai was named Steve. Have minecraft powers appeared before? Maybe all those legends of the Azor Ahai and their different names were actually a group of minecraft players? It would explain why the stories are so widespread.

They'd also fit Bran the Builder. I wonder if I'll end up with builder for my epithet? Maybe not, Maekor the Builder seems a bit much.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Over the next few months Lorath expands massively. I didn't provide them ships but I did drop off enough supplies to build an entire fleet. I also use a few devices to convert most of the islands center from stony ground to fertile farmland. I didn't intent to keep using my powers there, but it should provide a good starting point.

Most of the poor were only too eager to move into actual houses and work the farms. Soon small villages dotted the island. They had plenty of room to grow. In a few years I anticipate a population explosion. I even stripped most of the defenses from my base to plant another village there. It was a bit over the top anyway.

Several of the merchants move out of the city. They seem to like the idea of becoming actual lords and scatter across island. I don't do much for them besides set up a wall and dock, but that seems to be enough.

Many of them are negotiating to take over some of the villages. I've only had to kill a few who tried to use less than honest methods. There's always someone who thinks they're untouchable. It helps that the citizens all seem to love me right now. Hard to hide what your doing when everyone is willing to report you.

Lorath isn't the only place keeping me busy. They also have a single colony called Morosh. While I did drop off some supplies for them mostly I removed their poor. I needed more colonies if I was to seize complete control of Lorath Bay.

There is a peninsula directly south of Lorath which was easily converted to more farmland. From it Lorath Bay could be easily controlled. Since I wasn't living there I added walls and watch towers to each village.

Lorath was not the only place I worked with. It was too early to approach anyone about joining yet. It would take years to establish myself successfully. But there was one place I fully intended to rule completely.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It had been four months in Lorath. In the End almost three years had passed. The native language had long since been translated. I was learning it slowly, but I also had translators now. However all that took less than a year.

I spent the rest of the time conquering the entire dimension and consolidating my rule. Armies of undead and golems marched on each village. The people fought bravely, recklessly, foolishly.

After each conquered island I offered to let the survivors join me. They had a pretty intricate culture of vassalage and I took full advantage of it. I ruled them all within a few months. Even then it only took so long because I took so many prisoners and interrogated so many people.

It was worth it. Most of their elders died before speaking, but enough broke. I learned their magic. I was surprised to find it wasn't unique. The notes my power gave me stated it was originally practiced by Warlocks.

I was surprisingly simple too. You build a sarcophagus made from obsidan, dragon bone and endstone. All things I have in abundance. You then sacrifice people in it. You also need a potion brewed from chorus flowers and a bunch of other things, but the sacrifice is the important part.

If it's done right you get a handful of blue ash. They then tattoo it on themselves in careful patterns. My powers shortcut that part. I just need the potion and sacrifice. I then get literal video game level options.

A series of spells were listed. Growing a wall, rows of spikes and other options, some they hadn't discovered too. I get to buy them. More sacrifices lets me upgrade the spell or buy another. And presto, instant once a day magic effects.

I go a bit mad with power after that discovery. I started sacrificed pretty much everyone who didn't swear themselves to me fast enough. The conquest off the remainder of the dimension was rushed. Instead of the six month campaign I originally planned I finished it in a week as I drowned them in numbers. All to capture as many as possible for sacrifices.

Still I had undisputed rule of the dimension after that. I then tore apart the realm and rebuilt it. There were no longer thickly clustered islands around a large sea. Now there is only a single massive island surrounding a massive colosseum where the dragon spawns.

The colosseum wasn't for an audience. Instead it was filled with mounted siege engines. Hundreds of windlances. Enchanted mantlets protected them from fire and each other. Dragon hunting was a methodical and regular process here. I have quite the stockpile of dragon eggs built up.

The land itself is now layered now into multiple floors. I could expand outwards, but there is still the problem of temperature. Not to mention the other inhabitants. Because of them my realm is surrounded by a ring of massive fortifications and defenses.

Not everyone was killed or submitted. A few groups escaped and fled outwards. Much like the wildlings. Given how easy the plants grow there is little hope of them starving. Still I wish them well against the endermen, ice dragons and whatever else is out there.

Despite the grumblings of a very few the people here love me. I introduced new food, safety from endermen, and a host of other benefits. I have long since freed the slaves I brought over and they are now teaching.

If the timeline follows the books than in six years the story begins. Here forty eight years will have past. Generations raised to serve me.


	16. Empire

Chapter 16 Empire

I sacked Tyrosh. It was the first test of my new vassals. Six dragon ships, all equipped and assembled by me took off from Lorassyon. I warned everyone to expect us gone for months. I needed to test them outside the End. If there were any problems I wanted to know now.

The warriors were all amazed at the sun. The sea not being instantly deadly baffled them. Fish were viewed with suspicion. It was pretty entertaining for me.

The assault was way too easy. Tyrosh it seems hadn't recovered at all. If anything it looked even worse than I had left it. Against warriors with magic abilities and enchanted equipment, there might as well not have been any resistance.

I made a point of taking everyone from the city. Tyrosh was to be my example of why you don't upset me. I did look for my siblings, but it seems they left soon after my first attack. At least they survived.

The slaves were freed and offered a place in Lorath. I planned to use them to shore up the populations in my villages. Almost everyone of them accepted. For the ones who didn't, I dropped them off at Braavos. Not my problem anymore.

Everyone else was sacrificed. We left a trail of blood and bodies that stretched for hundreds of miles. In keeping with the elder's traditions I didn't let the warriors know the details. It had way too much potential for abuse.

In the end every warrior who sailed with me received a few boosts to their powers. The rest, and majority, all went to me. Each of my dozen or so abilities, already formidable before, were now devastating in scope. At this rate I wouldn't need a dragon to break an army. I'd be able to do it alone.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

A year passed in the End. The expected baby boom arrived and I began arranging for events to ensure they didn't lose their martial nature. Tourneys, spars, bards, expeditions into the cold and anything else I could think of. Slowly I shaped them into the samurai their armor resembled.

Years went by with me carefully shaping them. Fighting beasts, meditation, endurance training. Becoming a samurai turned into an honor and a hard won one at that. Only they received enchanted equipment. Only they earned the tattoos that gave them powers.

I got lucky with the tattoos. I had control of them since I had made sure to kill all the elders. One of the elder had given me the clue I needed to keep using them. It took time, but in the end it paid off.

You don't need human sacrifices to make the ink. Humans worked the best, but every living thing could be used. Even better, undeath sacrifices worked out especially well. Combined with necromancy ink was no longer a problem.

I implement many of the same policies in Lorath. They aren't as extreme. They also weren't samurai. Eventually though they could be.

I don't have nearly as much control there. But my villages make it as least somewhat possible. I don't want the clans to have too much of a cultural clash when I bring them out. Since I'm mainly using rewards as incentive my policies are very popular.

There are some grumblings from Lorath. Over my policies, my absences, unnatural growth rate and a hundred other things. People are so very ungrateful. It's slight and mainly from Lorath proper. The villages all love me, especially since my policies require me to periodically tour them.

I'm careful with my visits. I always make sure to bring plenty of supplies. I throw feasts when I arrive. I'm polite to everyone. I occasionally help out with my powers. I want royal visits to be something they hope for not dread.

Fortunately my plans I only need Lorath to stay content for a few more years. By then the clans will have grown large enough I can replace everyone if necessary. Lorath is mine now and I'm not about to give it up.

I can see why they are upset. My policies don't favor really favor them. In fact they hurt many of them. I was steering the culture towards warrior leaders. I wanted knights not landlords.

I kept the dragon ships out. They're captained by a few of my samurai. Already they've secured Lorath Bay. I've been questioned several times about the ships and love the fact no one knows anything. I occasionally drop an outrageous rumor just because it's funny. I wonder how the spies that are no doubt present are faring.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My knowledge of magic grew. The incursions into the frozen wastes in the End allowed me to capture more than one ice spire. The door turns out to be both a trap and a reward. At least for me.

The Black Door. Made from obsidian and dragon bone it's the structure I require to access Shadowbinding. It's one of the most complicated magic systems I've seen even if it is limited largely to illusions. Of course illusions can be terrifyingly real.

It was a pretty interesting selection of spells. I can make glamered items, which are basically small illusions. I can also summon endermen or vexes. I think that's the equivalent of what Melisandre created with her shadow demon baby. If so I'm really glad my powers simplify everything.

The downside is that anything I create also requires health. Worse it didn't heal normally. I must have sat there for at least an hour snacking before giving up. Fortunately health potions do work. I can see why Melisandre drained Stannis to make the shadow.

It doesn't always work in my favor. I can make glass candles, as in the valyrian artifacts. I can't use them though. Or at least not the same way. Instead if I have a map I can use it to scry there. Worse, the map has to be made through my powers.

Marwyn actually brought a glass candle with him. Testing confirms it's me. His glass candle does the same thing for me. Still, at least it lets me keep an eye on my villages.

Other than my experiments though only one recipe is of real use. Brain in a Jar is basically a piggy bank for energy. I stick it next to a harvester and when I need energy, break it. Energy pours out and I can collect it. It can't hold as much as I do, but I can place multiple jars at each harvester. Enchanting has become infinitely easier now.

Even better shadowbinding has unlocked new options for my golems. The materials were interesting, but largely not that useful. Well, except maybe diamond. Looking at their stats, diamond is even better than Valyrian steel. Ok, so diamond dragon golems for later.

The important thing though is the head. I can now create an advanced golem head. I now have smart golems!

Well, for a certain definition of smart. They can reason and learn, but they aren't very clever. Overall I'd say they were about as intelligent as a child of maybe five. They can reason and make decisions, but abstract or complicated concepts just confuse them.

So sadly not a replacement for people. Still, maybe I'll unlock something later on. At least it makes it easier to automate my farms and harvesters.

More importantly, they are able to operate my devices. The can use chests, furnaces and everything else I create. They even have an inventory. It's small, only five spaces and doubles as their hotbar. It's still incredibly useful.

Even more so with my production of shulker boxes. They're essentially chests. But they don't dump out their contents when moved. They can also be stored in an inventory while full.

The best part about them. It turns out shulkers are breedable. The annoying silverfish that grow in chorus trees? If they infest a purpur block it turns into a shulker.

Shulker shells aren't only useful for boxes. They're incredibly strong, even more so than dragon scale. The armor my samurai wear are all made from shulker shells. It's wasn't easy making the first set of armor for the recipe. I can see why they never tried working with the stuff before. Now I just personally gift each samurai with their own set.

The armor itself is a work of art. I got the dragon age inquisitor helmet I wanted although it was modified to fit their armor. The majority of the smiths then worked together to design the rest of the armor. They outdid themselves.

I couldn't wait to see the reaction to seeing my samurai. And they were clearly mine with their dragon themed armor. The natural royal purple color from the shulker shells just made them more impressive.

The black door sadly was the only real loot in the ice spires. Even they weren't worth it since I obtained the recipe. The skeleton sitting on the throne was a pain to fight. He would go invisible, create illusionary duplicates and fire ice bolts that slowed you down.

If the tree got disturbed fruit fell and then you had endermen also attacking. The only reason to kill him was the dragon buried underneath. If he was still around he ended up riding the dragon while it was attacking.

The only reason I kept taking down the ice spires is they didn't seem random. The further out you went the more common they became. They also seemed to very slowly drifting towards the center. Drifting despite being locked in a solid sheet of ice.

Well, that and the ice dragon. More skulls were nice. Not to mention it's breath. Like normal dragons it's breath had an odd effect on endstone. It made a small patch of mist that slowed you down if touched. It could also be bottled and used in brewing.

Ice dragon breath has the odd effect of delaying a potion. It basically takes the potion an hour to actually kick in. I wasn't sure if I really needed it since the obvious use, poisons, weren't something I cared about. Still, hoarding habits from gaming still apply so I'm collecting as much as I can.

I've been pretty far out now and have yet to find anything besides the ice spires out there. While the End is incredibly useful, it's just as depressing as it's name.

I have done my best to change that. Besides food and light I've introduced other things. My latest change is pets. They actually had pets before me. The problem was that they were endermites.

Enderimites are not pets. They're giant black rats with glowing purple eyes. They can be trained, barely, to act as attack dogs. They're only good point was that they hated endermen.

I introduced a variety of pets. Several were accepted, but none more than the little valyrian. The little monkey was positively adored by everyone. When I asked why they said it reminded them of me. I'm not really sure how to take that.

Speaking of pets. Saath has the weirdest one yet. Spiders. Giant spiders a meter across. True they're useful as guards. And they make silk and venom. And chitin. If I didn't have my spider harvesters I'd probably be all for raising them. As livestock.

But pets? How can they think of giant spiders as cuddly?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Shadowbinding is not the only magic I learned. Moqorro had set up a small temple to R'hllor. When I checked it out the shrine gave me a recipe. Surprisingly blood altar gave me access to blood magic and not fire magic.

Blood magic doesn't really seem to be an actual type of magic. Instead it seems like an alternative method of using magic. Sacrifice people or animals to generate mana. For me it was still just energy, but I could actually see Moqorro directing it.

It seems they sacrifice things to generate the energy to cast since they don't have any of their own or any way of collecting it. Sadly blood magic didn't come with a bunch of abilities. Instead it lists every ritual and recipe I've unlocked with my other types of magic.

It was useful, but disappointing. I was really looking forward to exciting new magic. It wasn't all bad. One of Marwyn's scrolls actually served to give me a ritual that I could only use with the blood altar. I'm pretty sure that means I don't have the base structure to practice that type of magic yet. So it's not completely useless.

The worst part was Moqorro refused to teach me any of the rituals he knew. He said they were sacred and meant only for true believers. Which probably means priests.

Speaking of priests, quite a few priests of R'hllor have been showing up recently. They aren't doing anything either. No proclamations, no preaching beyond their usual. They're just there. I wonder if I'm getting paranoid.

Almost wish they would do something. It'd be a good excuse to interrogate them all for any rituals they have. For now I'll wait. I've already sent messages out promising rewards in return for even hints of new magic. I'm determined to get the most use out of the blood altar.

While I did want individual spells what I wanted the most were more forms of magic. I had noticed that each type of magic unlocked new options for golems. Besides intelligence I really wanted a version that could fly. The shadowbinding gave me a harpy body, but it could only glide like an elytra. Since it was much more fragile and I still couldn't make an airship, it wasn't very useful.

Many of my previous tasks involved magic and they had finally started being completed. It was disappointing to find that my powers already taught me more about shadowbinding and warlock arts than any of the practitioners they found. Although the hints I heard about Stygai made me want to visit.

In a strange twist many of the practitioners ended up wanting to stay and study under me. I refused of course. There was no way I was going to condone widespread use of such magic. It would do a lot more harm than any benefit a few casters would grant me. Now if I can just find a type of magic that doesn't involve blood or death I might actually open a school.

Other quests have started being completed and I now have a small herd of unicorns. I'm not really sure if they're magical, but I vaguely remember some mention of them vanishing along with dragons. I'm not taking any chances so I'm actively breeding them in the End.

In a few generations I should have enough to start seeding them throughout Essos. They're fierce, tough and agile. They should have little trouble flourishing anywhere.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Between ruling the End and Lorath I don't have a lot of free time. The majority of what I do have is invested into a single project. I'm creating a route to Valyria.

No matter how much I offered no one accepted any size reward to explore valyria for me. It was regarded by everyone as no better than committing suicide. Accept I know it's not. One of the ironborn manages it in the story so I know it's possible. I just can't convince anyone else to try.

So since I can't send anyone I'm going myself. I'm not about to sail there. Not only am I not willing to put up with the potential problems as last time I now have responsibilities.

I could miss a few weeks from Lorath. Maybe. But the End was still in the first generation of my rule. Being gone months or even a year? Not a chance. All my social engineering could collapse at any point. I need to wait until it had the weight of tradition behind it before I feel safe.

Since I can't sail I'm going by land. I'm building a chain of waypoints, deep underground and following the Rhoyne river. They're connected by gates and when finished will allow me to cross Essos in minutes.

It's a bit slow since I'm actually periodically building full waypoints. Fifty meters deep and completely self sustaining. Each one was a full bunker complete with Nether portal. Sadly I can't travel through the Nether.

I tried at first. I almost died. The gates shoot you out five kilometers out. I ended up on a tiny island in the middle of a lake of lave. I was also surrounded by ghasts. Never again.

At this point I'm building what I call relay stations. Basically an underground room just large enough to hold the pair of gates and a few emergency supplies. Only every twenty stations is fleshed out into a waypoint.

Following the river eventually reminded me of a few things I had read and allowed me to piece together a few more. The ancient Rhoynar had fought Valyria. They were famous for their use of water magic. The descendants were also currently in Dorne or are Dornish.

Either way that's another lead on more magic. Better Dorne shouldn't be too hostile towards me. I might just be allowed to hire some of them to teach me. Well, if they still have any water magic. They didn't use any in the books.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I recently attempted to conquer parts of the Nether using my samurai. They were impatient and wanted action and I didn't want them to grow complacent. I figured even if they can't build they can protect me.

It should have been easy. The samurai had incredibly strong armor. Everything was heavily enchanted. They had powers of their own.

It was a disaster. Even with fire protection enchantments the Nether was scorching hot. Water evaporates almost instantly, drying out everything. That much was fine. The real problem was how it drained everyone.

It was like in the minecraft game. Everything used energy and you ended up hungry. Except it ins't physically possible to eat fast enough to keep up with how fast you get hungry in the game. Everyone except me starved to death within an hour.

Looking at their shriveled up corpses I'm reminded of how dangerous magic can be. Maybe I should be more careful?


	17. Siege Lines

Chapter 17 Siege Lines

Morosh has been burned. My only real colony, gone. When I see the notice I have trouble believing it. The report didn't make any sense. Why the hell would Ibben attack me? Especially together with Dothraki?

While Lorath isn't exactly close to Ibben, we aren't enemies. We even share trade agreements with Saath. As for the Dothraki, they fear salt water. How did they even contact Ibben?

The worst part is I can't even check since I never set up a glass candle to let me scry Morosh. The only reason I know about the attack is some of the survivors reached Lorath. They were also still being chased.

At least my dragon ships got to engage in a real battle. I know patrolling is boring. Especially since pirates have been steering well clear of my waters. The samurai will be happy even if the fight was over quickly.

This was the first time anyone has challenged me since I sacked Tyrosh. I need to find out what's going on. Nothing like this happened in the story. Sure I caused some waves, but I figured staying away from Westeros would minimize them. Besides nothing I did was even close to Ibben.

At least I have prisoners to interrogate.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The prisoners were defiant. They spat and cursed in their odd gutteral tongue. It didn't matter. With healing potions available there was no need to worry about them dying. Torture could be extended for years. It was only a matter of time before they broke. I can wait.

It's too soon to bring out the clans, but I do increase my patrols. I also build more dragon ships. I have twenty of them now protecting Lorath. News spreads fast. Everyone is worried.

I use it. More people want to train now. Everyone wants to be safe. I set up more training, more tournaments. I may even see samurai this generation. A nice silver lining. Might even be worth losing a city.

Over the following weeks I got an idea of the situation. It wasn't just the Ibbenese. I was under attack everywhere. Merchants flying the flag of Lorath were attacked by pirates or suffered accidents. Fleets from half a dozen nations were working against me.

Idiots. I really had intended to try to spare them. Looks like my house words were right. If I'm to survive it'll be through fire and blood.

Villages start being raided by bandits and raiders. I fortify and garrison them. Lorath becomes a nation under siege. No one is reckless enough to openly challenge me. Not after Tyrosh. There isn't any blockade or great battles. Instead they try to bleed me to death.

Everything thinks I'm trapped. Behind closed doors I laugh in triumph. Fear and desperation have done more to aid then any amount of gifts. Patriotism is rising and my support has never been greater. Lorath is now completely and utterly mine.

I start cycling entire villages into the End. I expand my island in the End. I shift entire villages there. I'm careful to make sure they are all integrated into the clans.

The vanishing villages increases fear again. The gratitude when I increase patrols and they stop is enormous. People are even starting to worship me. Not sure how I feel about that. Hopefully it doesn't cause any problems.

My gambit works because they aren't safe. The braavosi actually port longboats just so that can raid across the bay. Almost every village has survived an attack by this point.

Not that I leave them defenseless. I distribute several items my smiths recreated to each village. Chinese repeating crossbows, which they are calling Lorathi crossbows, are my favorite. I make sure every family received one. They're lethal, able to shoot ten bolts before changing magazines.

Better, they pose no threat to heavy armor like my samurai use. I suppose if knights attack I might have problems. But that's what the windlances are for. I didn't enchant any of the equipment I gave out, but they are still leagues better than anything currently available.

I don't just give out weapons. A small wall along with watch towers and signal mirrors and lights are also provided. I'd assign garrisons, but advanced golems still aren't very bright. There is way too much danger of them making a mistake.

It's a waiting game for me now. Soon enough I'll have built up enough to start expanding. In the meantime I keep myself busy.

With so much time on my hands my chain of waypoints has expanded rapidly. I've reached Volantris already. I avoid it. It's harder than it should be. The red priests actively search for me. I don't know why and don't care. I'll deal with them later.

I do hear about my sister there. It seems my example has caused everyone to worry about my family line. The temple of R'hllor is now raising Daenerys as their champion. I haven't heard anything about Viserys. I wonder if he's already gotten himself killed?

I really hope my little sister is alright. And it is my _little_ sister now. Physically I'm already eleven, four years older than her. What an odd thought. At this rate I'll have kids her age by the time we meet again.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Valyria is bad. I can see why so few survive venturing there. I've already had to deal with clouds of poisonous gas, steaming geysers and landslides. The lava flows and abundance of firewyrms are even worse. For all that though, the ruins there are remarkably intact.

Entire portions of cities still exist. Undamaged and in pristine condition. Not even ash dirties the streets. It's amazing to explore. I wish I could have seen it before the doom.

It's also extremely profitable. I found more than one library and armory. While I don't care about weapons or armor, the discovery of dragon horns are invaluable. Almost as useful as the rituals.

It seems the flesh crafting rituals Valyria was so famous for aren't originally blood magic. The scrolls and notes indicate they stole them from the Rhoynar. Thinking about it, it makes sense. After all they did create gray scale according to legend. Really wishing I had managed to keep in touch with Dorne now.

I've tried sending out agents, but none of them were successful. No matter how many I sent out none of them have managed to bring back any new magic. In fact, most of them never came back at all. I stopped trying when the waypoint I was using was discovered. I ended up in a full scale battle underground and was forced to destroy it. Spy networks here are way too effective.

At sea I've had mixed success. Without a blockade my ships can go where they want. Without friendly ports and hostile ships everywhere there was little point. So I didn't send ships.

The floating fortress was my response to openly hostile waters. Basically a massive sea vessel, it was closer to an island than a ship. It was five hundred feet per side and sixty feet high. It didn't look like a ship. It looked like a fortified ziggurat.

Made of enchanted copper, since I never managed to get my hands on weirwood, they should last for centuries without maintenance. They were fully autonomous, staffed completely by golems. The hundreds of windlances all used ammo hoppers with infinite ammo enchantments.

Their orders were simple. Shoot down every single ship that does not fly my flag. A purple three headed dragon is pretty distinctive. Anyone without it is attacked. Even with the flag anyone getting within a hundred feet is also attacked. No trojan horses for them.

They couldn't really move quickly. In fact they had four anchors to keep them from moving. They weren't supposed to patrol. They were supposed to make sea travel more hazardous. Sure they were large enough to avoid, but took time. They also provided safety zones for my ships.

Not that I had many ships. The ones I did send out weren't traders either. No, for the past few months my own privateers have been going out. No doubt my reputation suffers from it, but I think of it as karma.

The privateers are almost all galleys. I'm reserving dragon ships for now. The galleys are still formidable due to using the advanced golems as rowers.

The advanced golems are also the reason I'm able to create my floating fortresses. They are able to copy the design of the prototype perfectly. They are also able to construct most of equipment. Unfortunately I'm still needed for all of the enchanting.

I've streamlined the process over time. A floating fortress is finished every week now. Sadly I'm the main bottleneck. Enchanting takes so much time! Still, slowly but surely I'm cutting off everyone's access to the shivering sea.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With access to a dragon horn I finally get around to hatching a dragon. I'm a bit annoyed he turned out red with black markings. I really wanted purple. Purple would have been perfect.

For fun I name him Smaug. With access to essentially unlimited food he grows incredibly fast. I test it, but my magic doesn't seem any stronger with his birth. Still, he'll be useful to terrorize my enemies. My armies might be more effective, but as a symbol he's invaluable.

Not that my ships aren't turning out to be a symbol all on their own. I couldn't bring myself to not retaliate at least in some way for each and every attack. However I didn't have to strength to do more than defend with so many enemies. I wasn't about to risk my new empire.

My answer was fire ships. They resembled my dragon ships although they were actually galleys. They were also almost completely made from purpur blocks. The rich purple color was as much a symbol of my empire as the three headed dragon.

The entire cargo hold was packed with TNT and rockets. Enough to destroy everything within hundreds of feet. They weren't just moving bombs though. A covered top deck sheltered a hundred skeletons with flaming arrows. Despite how fragile purpur blocks are they do have one major benefit. They don't burn.

My people loved them. I could have automated their production but instead had each village build their own. They cheered every time they sent me a new ship made from purpur blocks for me to arm. It let them feel like they were truly a part of the war.

I've been primarily directing them towards Braavos and Ibben. Ibben was obvious. They shared the shivering sea with me and were direct competitors in fishing and whaling. They also burned Morosh.

Braavos was due to the Iron Bank. The prisoners, when they finally broke, knew enough for me to realize what was going on. The Iron Bank was the reason I was facing so many enemies. They coordinated and sometimes even bribed everyone involved.

It helps that they are also close and share the same sea. It helps more that Lorath really doesn't like them. Announcing what the Iron Bank, and more importantly Braavos, had done was enough to practically make this a holy war. Of course I'm not going to march until my army is whipped into shape.

Funny enough on a slightly related note, it turns out you do need whips to train a dragon. Their skin is touch enough you need the added force to even get them to notice. The reach also comes in handy as they grow larger. The sound though might be the most important part. Who new young dragons had ADD?

As he grew I spend quite a bit of time parading him through my small kingdom. My people loved him. To them he was proof that they would eventually win. Even more than the ships and golems. After all Aegon conquered half the world with only three dragons.

I'd hatch more dragons, but I currently lack Targaryens to ride them. And it seems I do need Targaryens. Testing has proven anyone else trying to use a dragon horn dies. They aren't even able to influence my dragon beyond a mild compulsion to show up. Not obey, just arrive.

I may try to breed my own eventually, but for now I'm way too busy to spend enough time in the End. I'm also not patient enough to wait that long in what feels like hiding.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I never found out if Braavos or Ibben tried to surrender. I don't even know exactly when they fell. Both were coastal powers and I had an endless supply of suicide ships. I only found out when a few of my raiders reported the complete lack of life.

Given their hatred of Braavos I took that as a sign to attack. I didn't want to deprive Lorath of their victory. Besides, it was a good training exercise. Every samurai currently trained was shipped over to scour Braavos. There were remnants, but they were easily taken care of.

I couldn't do the same for Ib. For one thing the main island was massive. Hunting survivors could easily turn into a messy guerilla war. Instead I unleashed golems.

I sent a ship over with enough parts stored to assemble thousands of obsidian golems. Their numbers were split evenly between dragon-headed harpy and full dragon models. All of them though were given the same command when unleashed. Kill every creature on the island.

Even though it was supposed to be completely automated I follow along to keep an eye on it. Despite testing I was still nervous about unleashing an essentially uncontrolled drone army.

I had safeguards though. There wasn't a golem crafting station on the ship or even the supplies to make one. Also, besides the very small group used for assembly and piloting, there were no advanced golems. I wanted no chance of a von neumann style machine being formed.

I kept watch as it pulled ashore and golems began leaving the ship. Eventually golems stopped leaving and the ship destroyed itself. Perfect. Not a single problem.

I was pretty happy with my solution. That should take care of the problem and keep anyone else from settling there. Since golems are deactivated by water, they can't even escape to cause problems elsewhere.

In a few years I can send in samurai to clear the island. Then I can colonize it myself. I might have to replace a few species, but it's not like they have anything I care about.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I play with flesh crafting using some of the lore I pieced together from Valyria. I merged dozens of creatures together in various ways. The only thing I avoided was creating beast men. Something about the idea of forced bestiality just seemed too much. Besides I already have my samurai.

My golems actually make it pretty difficult. They set the bar incredibly high for anything I want to actually be used. Combined with the very limited selection of animals I have to work with and I haven't had any successful results so far.

That is likely to change soon. With both Braavos and Ibben no longer a threat I can consolidate. Already my floating fortresses are moving to sever all access between the narrow sea and the shivering sea.

When they arrive Westeros will be almost completely unable to attack me. Only the North will have access to the shivering sea. I have plans in place to fix that though.

I've already been retasking most of my raiders. Sure some will want to keep reaving along the narrow sea, but it will be much more dangerous there. Especially without support. The ships I'm sending out are once again cargo ships. Although they still aren't merchants.

Instead of trading, most of the ships are just dropping off supplies. The mountain clans of the vale, the island of skagos and the pirates of the three sisters. All of them received shipments of weapons and other supplies. Only from skagos did I bargain at all and even then only for a small herd of unicorns.

It was a gamble, but a minor one. They may turn on me, but distance and history makes it much more likely they'll attack my enemies. Besides, it's not like they can really hurt me. Lorath is a death trap. Floating fortresses, dragon ships, even local defenses all mean pirates will have a hard time of it.

For the far north I don't provide supplies. Instead I actually trade. I trade for help. The lands north of the Wall are vast. It's also very sparely populated. If I'm to collect what I want I need help.

Aid is easy enough to buy. Steel weapons, leather armor, even food are all in short supply. I pour supplies and men into the far north with only a single goal. People.

The main people I want are giants. Out of everything resource I can use, the skulls of giants are the only one I lack a source for. Given how useful twenty foot high golems would be I _need_ a source. So I'm offering enormous rewards for giants.

I dislike how I'm essentially going to enslave them, but pragmatic at the same time. When the Long Night happens the giants die out. Less than two hundred is not a viable population base.

Raised and trained in both the End and the island of Ib, their numbers will flourish. In the end I'll save their race like I did the unicorns. I'm not sure how closely linked they are to magic, but I'm not taking any chances.

Ideally I'd like the children of the forest. I don't have any real hope of that happening. Instead I want the next best thing. Wargs.

Wildings are occasionally born with the ability to possess animals, which they call skinchanging. They tend to shun them, making their survival less likely. They are literally breeding the magic out of themselves!

If the wildings don't want them I'll take them. I won't even force them to do much. With abundant supplies and companionship, if only with other wargs, their numbers are bound to grow. I might even try having a kid with one. Maybe the kid will end up able to possess dragons.


	18. Conquest

Chapter 18 Conquest

Expanding was easier than I anticipated. Ib Sar, the only city to survive my attacks, ended up joining me. Colonized by banished criminals, they actually seemed happy that I wiped out the rest of their race. I didn't grant them Ib since I was still planning on using it as a giant preserve, but I was more than happy to improve their island.

Far Ib was a rocky island with poor soil and dominated by a few large mountains. With advanced bone golems it was easy enough to start reshaping the island. Slowly they started tearing down the closest mountain even as they used the stone to expand it's shores.

I even granted them a single Valyrian steel hoe to improve their farms. They seemed in awe of it's abilities. Some of them even looked like they were about to kneel and start praying. I have no doubt that it'll become a national treasure.

Like in the rest of my territories I impose a very light tax. So light they have trouble believing it. It's not like I really need the money. I only do that much because I'd like my empire to be self sustaining. It would be a shame if it collapsed as soon as I died.

Far Ib wasn't the only city to join. Poor Saath also petitioned to join. With the loss of Lorath and Ib as trading partners, not to mention the destruction of Morosh, they were starving. Combined with the Dothraki hordes roaming everywhere, fucking Iron Bank, and I was their only chance of survival.

I didn't have any real problems with it. In fact I welcomed them with open arms. The Dothraki were a problem since I was primarily naval. Sure I could find a way to fight them but now I didn't need too.

Saath was all the remained of an entire kingdom that was destroyed by the Dothraki. They hated them and were all too happy with the idea of reconquering their former territory. They loved the literal tons of weapons I provided to help them as well.

Along with the repeating crossbow, which apparently really is being called the Lorathi crossbow, I provided several other items. The Sarnori were famous for fighting from chariots. I intended to restore that tradition. Not only would it provide a mobile armed force, the appeal to their pride would help integrate them in my empire.

I provided hundreds of chariots. Elaborate constructions of bronze, wood and steel they were each works of art. They were the large two person version because I had a Polybolos mounted on a swivel turret on the back of each one.

It wasn't an exact replica. My version was largely steel and incorporated the bow from the Lorathi crossbow. Since no one spoke greek here I renamed it the chain crossbow.

They loved it. The cheers when presented with the first one were deafening. The cheers turned into awe when I kept producing them. Unlike in Ib Sar they didn't waste any time. Muttered prayers rose from the crowds and I could tell I was going to be added to the plethora of gods they worshiped.

I also provided my version of a mantlet that was pretty much only possible due to my powers. Normal mantlets were usually small wooden walls on wheels meant to provide arrow cover. They often had an arrow slit in the center.

Mine were wood, but covered in a layer of steel. It was also three sided and hinged. Sliding bars and hinges allowed the rolling box to unfold into a twenty foot wall. Normally six feet high spikes could be extended an additional three feet.

For temporary walls that might need to be abandoned, they were horribly wasteful. As an investment to allowing my new cavalry to start fighting the Dothraki, they were worth it.

The very last thing I gifted them was a reminder of just who I am any why they should never turn on me. It was also a very public symbol of the fact they had joined my empire. I provided valyrian sphinx golems. Dragon bodies with advanced golem heads enabling them to be trained. Enough to pull every chariot I gave them twice over.

They didn't even seem to mind the fact that I demanded their cities mix populations with mine. I didn't take them away. Instead I moved several other villages over. It didn't take long to rebuild the ruins of Sarys and link them with a valyrian style road.

The two cities seemed a bit bare with the people scattered between them, but they were thoroughly defended. Chain crossbows were set up at in every watch and guard tower. I had also shipped each city literally tons of ammunition.

Morosh wasn't rebuilt. Instead of a single city I moved three of my villages over. They had the same defenses as before with the addition of having a dragon ship stationed just off the coast. Combined with a few barges and they can easily survive any size Dothraki attack.

The last place to join was a complete surprise. I'm not sure how they even got the idea, but it wasn't like I had a reason to refuse them. Two months after I started letting other cities join the island of Skagos petitioned to be included.

Turns out that while they did raid some the North had responded brutally. The fighting was fierce enough that it had done something that had never happened before. It united the island. They had a king for the first time.

Harell the first was intelligent too. He knew where the supplies had come from. He had made a plan and started bribing a few of the ships that were heading to the far north to trade with him. When he heard about Ib he hadn't taken even a week to ask to join.

I of course let them. I definitely approved of him. He was ruthless and intelligent. Perfect to guard against the North. There is also the fact that he's likely to end up on the front against the white walkers.

Because of that I was fairly generous. I used my powers to rebuilt several caverns into indoor gardens. I also created walls and other fortifications. Behind them they could build actual cities if they wanted. Since they were still trading I even built them a few small docks.

Now that they joined I poured food and other supplies to them. No people of mine were going to starve or freeze. I also provided Lorathi crossbows along with mountains of ammunition. I wanted them well able to defend my new territory. I also wanted to make sure they had enough arrows to last them for years.

I even provided them with windlances. Not many and all in very defensible locations. I really didn't want anyone capturing one. Still they were able to cover most of the island from their vantage points. And if an ice dragon appeared they would be available.

The ammunition for the weapons were all tipped with obsidian reinforced with fine steel wire. A bit extravagant, but they'll need them when the Long Night comes. Maybe with them they'll have a chance.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With a still limited population I wasn't able to start seeding villages everywhere like I wanted. I couldn't even expand and colonize the way I wanted too. What I could do was to capture territory.

I dislike doing so unless I see a real need. I don't gain anything from it. All that happens is someone else is denied some assets. It also creates it's own problems later on. The island of Ib for example.

Sometimes though, it's the best route. There is a target that is just too tempting. One that will hurt my enemies and won't require massive amounts of time and effort. It needs to be highly visible. Some place that with a high enough profile that they are forced to respond. It works best if it's a place of pride, so much so that losing it is a mortal insult.

Not everyone has something like that. Most places in Essos don't. The city states just aren't large enough. Both the Dothraki and Westeros do.

For the Dothraki it's their only city and capital, Vaes Dothrak. It's large and unfortified. It's not normally an easy target except spilling blood is illegal according to their religion there.

I don't even have to think about it. I set off immediately using an elytra and rockets to make may over. Getting there is agony. The Dothraki sea is flat. Endless seas of grass without anything to break up the view. Even with rockets it takes forever to cross.

Thankfully they have roads. Or at least haven't destroyed all the roads. I manage to follow them until I finally find the city. Once nearby I drop down and set up.

I don't bother hiding. I've easy to spot in the sky. The only reason I don't have an enormous crowd behind me is that they can't match my pace. Besides the land is flat, there isn't anywhere to hide.

It doesn't matter. I land well clear of anyone and in the few minutes it takes people to arrive I'm protected. A thirteen foot wall surrounds me as I continue setting up. By the time they bring over ladders I've ready for them.

A massive central tower rises from behind the wall. As I build it I make sure to stud it with cubby holes. Each one has a skeleton archer protected by an arrow slit. Underneath me arrows are already seeking out targets. Once I'm high enough I set up the real attack.

A team of advanced golems along with chests full of supplies lies at the top. Thank goodness I can make shulker boxes. More than enough to spawn harpy golems for quite a long time. The tower itself is high enough to allow the golems to glide all the way into the heart of their city.

When the first golem makes it into their city they panic and chase after it. Before they get back I quickly make a few extra towers. They can't make golems, but the extra firepower should keep them from overrunning the one that does.

Not like that will do them any good. If anyone makes it past the guard towers and behind the wall everything gets destroyed. The entire compound is filled with TNT.

As I leave I can see hundreds of Dothraki arguing at the edges of the city. A few fights have even broken out. I laugh as I fly off.

No one notices me land just a little ways back. I've roughly measured as closely as possible, but it's still an estimate. I'm just glad the city is such a large target.

I burrow down and quickly set up the second part of my plan. A quick portal and I'm in the Nether. Just as I thought. A Nether fortress. I run through it ignoring the inhabitants. I'm now wearing four layers of armor, leather, chain, and two types of plate. There is no chance of any of them significantly damaging me.

I quickly find both Blaze spawners and grab them. Then, still ignore everything else, run away. I fill in the portal behind me. Don't need anything following and messing up my set up.

I place the blaze spawner at the top of the room and build single gate pointed into the heart of Vaes Dothrak. They're not dragons, but they're close enough. When I burrow out I see that already parts of the city are burning. It's beautiful.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The Dothraki aren't my only enemies. Westeros has clearly demonstrated they are as well. Better yet they have two targets for me to hit.

The first is the Wall. It's probably the most defensible location in the world right now. It's also one of the least guarded. Along it's three hundred mile length there are only a few castles that are manned. There are also only around a thousand men total manning the wall.

I make sure to land while it's dark. Quietly I set up a golem assembling set up. I want everyone to know it was me so I go with obsidian dragon golems. Making it blatantly obvious it was me. Or at least a Targaryen. Or someone framing us.

Maybe I should leave a note? I think the long hours spent flying have gotten to me more than I realize if I'm joking.

Once I can't hear anymore screaming I start securing the Wall for myself. It's really quite simple. I start manufacturing thousands of advanced bone golems. They each have an enchanted bow grafted on along with a quiver with the infinity enchantment. The quivers all hold the same arrows I gave the Skagosi.

I have the golems smash almost everything on top of the wall. Cranes, siege engines, supplies everything is destroyed. I then have them burn down everything in range of their bows.

I have to drop some TNT to clear out the castles at the base. I don't want any structures except my own present or even nearby. My structures consist of over thirty small fortresses actually on top of the wall.

Each fortress extended past the edge of the wall. From the bottom two iron ladders extend all the way to the base of the Wall. One on each side. Multiple murder holes guard the ladders. The ladders are actually only for use by golems. Everything else gets attacked.

The fortress is hollow, essentially just space to house hundreds of obsidian harpy golems. The top of each fortress holds six windlances. If an ice dragon does appear, hopefully they'll be enough to stop it.

I plug all the tunnels with solid stone. My Wall will be impenetrable. Any members of the Night's Watch who surrendered I release. Don't need them and they'll be better than a note to spread the news.

When they're all assembled the golems will line the Wall. They'll guard the Wall from both directions, literally raining down obsidian and fire on everything that approaches. Even armor won't protect anyone since the bows all have Power II added to them.

It took much longer than I anticipated but I'm satisfied with the results. I fly a few miles out to sea and rejoin the fleet I had assembled. We then head south towards my second target.

Dragonstone Island. The ancestral home of the Targaryens. It's also perfectly positioned, being clearly visible from King's Landing and more importantly visible to King Robert.

He might be able to ignore my taking of the Wall. It's isolated and only really important as a politically symbol and to the north kingdom. I doubt it'll happen, but he could easily write off the Wall. There is no way he'll be able to ignore my taking of Dragonstone.

Sadly it was a little too visible. Trying to take it subtly was too likely to fail. So I didn't try. A massive fleet of fire ships led my assault.

It was clear I caught them by surprise. Barely half the royal fleet had left the docks. My fire ships tore through them all. For a while it looked like the sea itself was burning.

That was distinctively underwhelming. I was prepared for kind of massive epic naval battle. Something to make Tyrosh look mild. Instead I face over a hundred or so galleys with only thirty fire ships and some of them survived.

I order to remaining few fire ships to attack King's Landing. No point letting him try and organize well, anything. In the meantime I lead the charge as the three dragon ships start unloading samurai.

The samurai carried my banner of course. I was making a political statement. That's when things went odd.

There was fierce fighting along the docks of course. Royal soldiers and sailors were present in large numbers. They were also bolstered by Stannis's bannermen. My samurai mowed them all down. I didn't even fight. I stood on top of one of the buildings and watched. I was so proud of my people.

That part was expected. The crazy part was what happened afterwards. The commoners all poured out to watch the fighting. I figured they would run. Instead they started cheering. I don't even know where they hid them but Targaryen banners and flags were being hung up.

The people there were so happy to see me. They cheered madly when I took off my helmet. It was actually nice. I did notice a lot of the people there had valyrian features. Clearly they 'loved' my family in more than once sense.

I was touched. I also felt slightly bad since I had planned on leaving again. They changed my mind though. No, I wasn't going to disappoint my subjects. I was going to keep them safe.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I was a good thing I had caught Westeros completely by surprise. I wasn't prepared to actually hold Dragonstone. Sure I could flood it with golems and traps, but now I intended to protect it.

The first thing I did was head back. I did so alone, leaving everyone else behind to guard the island. I was just glad I'm paranoid enough to always take a chest full of rockets on every trip. I broke my blockade to send several of the floating fortresses south.

Sure a few pirates might make it over, but I never removed any defenses. Besides the hole won't be there for long. It's just much faster to send new fortresses over to the blockade than all the way to Dragonstone. I also send a few dragon ships to run patrols in the area.

That's not nearly enough for me though so I load up another dragon ship with supplies. I intend to clearly make Dragonstone mine. I also pick up my dragon. He's only the size of a horse, but I'm sure they'll get a thrill out of seeing him. All my other subjects do.

I make good time. I'm back well within two weeks. As expected I'm greeted with deafening cheers. It was nice to see how much they missed me. It'd probably have been worse if I brought Smaug. Sadly my dragon did _not_ like sea travel.

The samurai were happy to report they stopped the few minor attacks that occurred. They were more probes than assaults. The dragon ships were busy raiding up and down the coast. Mostly they kept burning down every ship they tried to build at King's Landing.

The first few days were busy. The people barely saw me. Meanwhile I was busy tearing up the island. I mined deep and started setting up underground farms. Enough to feed the entire population easily. Lastly I set up an underground lake. Between the lights and magma sea weed should flourish. It should also provide fish, clams and other sea food even if the seas nearby freeze over.

I can't stay here though. It's too isolated and the rest of my empire needs me. So I arm them. First Lorathi crossbows were given to every adult. I place windlances on every guard tower in the castle as well. Armor and other weapons were also given to anyone who asked.

Sadly very few people ask. Not many here were fighters. They were mostly servants and fisherman. While many were willing to try, I wasn't willing to just throw their lives away. Besides, they don't need to fight. That's what my samurai are for.

It only takes another week for the floating fortresses to arrive. During that time we're only attacked twice. Although I hesitate to label them as actual attacks.

The first was from the Redwyne fleet. They didn't even get to try to land troops. When my dragon ships went out to meet them the whole fleet panicked. It seems they still remember me. Several ran into each other in their attempts to flee.

The second attempt was with wildfire. I actually was happy when they did that. I didn't even mind the ship I lost since I managed to collect a sample.

Then the floating fortresses arrived. Positioned to slaughter any invasion I withdrew along with all but a very small garrison.


	19. Problems and Projects

Chapter 19 Problems and Projects

Things settled into an uneasy peace over the next few months. While I have no doubt Westeros is furiously rebuilding their navy, there were no more attacks. Even the Wall wasn't seriously attacked.

My empire seemed content to enjoy their prosperity and raise the next generation. A few families continued to jostle for recognition and position, but overall it seems everyone has seemed to realize just how large my empire is now.

If someone wants to become landed nobility it's as simple as moving out and claiming a patch of land. The population density slowly declined as people began spreading out. Of course they all wanted aid in getting started.

At least they were bright enough to never try demanding my help. Instead elaborate gifts started to stream in from would be frontiersmen who didn't want to actually rough it. Thankfully they quickly realized raw materials and other signs of wealth held little meaning to me. The gifts I appreciated were devices and specimens.

It worked out for me too. I was unwilling to order people to their potential deaths just for a single specimen. It just wasn't worth the trouble and ill will it would cause. However, offered a reward instead of pay and people would compete to risk themselves.

It was already paying off. My newest project was heavily reliant on flesh crafting. Animal products were the only resource my powers hadn't been able to create an unlimited supply for. It was irritating to have such a limitation when one of the primary aspects of my powers is resource generation.

So I was attempting to cheat. Combinations of odd creatures were tested to see if I could make my own product generators. Already I have had limited success with furs.

A shadow cat was successfully crossed with a large snake. Eventually. Luckily eggs worked since the attempts to force them to mate all failed horribly. The result was a snake with a luxurious fur coat. It also shed it's skin regularly, creating pelts. It wasn't fast enough for me, but worked for now.

The other aspect of my power was construction and sadly it wasn't as aided by the quests. I've been fairly consistently turning out assorted mechanical devices and spreading them around. I haven't recreated even a fraction of what I know how to make and my craftsman already have lists of projects to work on.

Very few devices surprise and impress me. Sadly most of them are geared more towards entertainment than utility. Of course a few don't qualify since I did specify it must fit within a box six feet per side. After all if there is a new invention I'd like to be able to add it to my recipes.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Ironically it was the peace that caused the problems. For the first time in years my people felt safe. More they knew they were winning.

Some of it was my fault. A side effect of my quests. It's hard not to foster that kind of attitude when I'm actually rewarding people for reckless bravery. People don't notice the ships that come back. They see the ones who succeed. It makes them proud.

While the rise of nationalism is useful I could do without the egos that accompany it. Pompous, stuffy and all too obsessed with status. I had to deal with people like that before, but never this bad.

It's like now that they aren't any actual problems they feel to need to cause new ones. Why the hell are so many feuds springing up?

I wouldn't mind that much if they just bothered each other. No, they were causing me problems. Spies, bandits and other issues. Crime was on the rise and it was being sponsored. Worse even my samurai were being drawn into it in some cases.

They were supposed to be mine. Sworn and loyal above all to the throne. More than stupid petty family squabbles. It was the last straw from me.

I can sort of see how the clans got involved. It had been over a decade for them since I conquered the End. The youngest generation hadn't even seen what I was capable of. I'm not sure what excuse every else used. Maybe they thought distance would stop me?

It doesn't matter. It's time I reminded them of what I am. I'm a gamer with all of the sociopathic tendencies that come with that role. Sure, this is much more real, but it's not like my life here has done much to foster social connections. So I go with what works. Since I'm clearly not in an rpg I just treat this as an rts.

I move to destroy my problems. I bring my samurai, but only to watch. I want everyone to know that they survive and prosper only at my sufferance. And I can take it away.

In the end two families are wiped out along with an entire village. Not sure what the family promised them that caused them to face me. Don't really care.

At the end I actually was pretty pleased. Halfway through executing the second family I had an epiphany. These people had all lost their right to live. Lots of people did. These though, had betrayed me. Betrayed my trust.

They deserve worse than death.

The thought actually causes me to freeze. I probably creeped out the nameless person I was about to behead as I silently stared. At least he didn't interrupt. I was nice enough to finish killing him for that.

Everyone else had dragged back to my base. Flesh crafting humans had seemed so wrong before, a violation of basic human rights. But these traitors didn't have any rights. At least not to me.

I didn't hide what I was doing. I made sure to set up my experiments where anyone could visit and witness what was happening. I wanted people terrified of the very idea of turning treason.

With that in mind I didn't even mind all the failures I had. The grotesque hybrids just made everything scarier. I actually ran out of people before I had any successes. Still it wasn't a complete loss. People now know the few laws in my empire I made have teeth.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Eventually I did succeed. People suck. They'll always be someone who do unforgivable things just because they can. It's worse of course in Planetos. It bothered me before. Now? It just means I have a very secure source of human specimens.

I have some standards. Only traitors and murders. Well and slavers. And rapists. Loads of crimes in actuality. I'm actually thinking about getting rid of the death penalty. Let everyone know to not execute their criminals. Sell them to me instead.

They get paid, I get specimens. Everyone wins! Only reason I hadn't was I really needed to make sure they were really guilty. Until I had some kind of reliable truth spell or something it wasn't worth risking.

Not like I lacked test subjects anyway. There didn't seem to be an end to the number of spies and traitors. I didn't restrict myself much. I had a number of people go around and 'recruit' spies for a variety of groups. Caught some actual spies that way.

With a steady stream of test subjects I managed to perfect my flesh crafting. It didn't take long before I had created my first new sentient race.

It was actually based on a giant. Sadly, despite a few specimens being captured, it turns out my plan for them wouldn't work. Giants were very independent. They didn't seem to like humans at all, even the babies growled. They also breed slow. It takes decades to raise a single child. Way too slow for me.

So I create a hybrid. I feel a bit bad for them. But I really can't take any chances. If they are important to magic somehow I was not going to risk it. Hopefully a beastman hybrid still counts.

I crossed them with snow bears. It worked perfectly. They were still intelligent but now grew quickly. After only a two years they were already adults. I even managed to minimize the physical changes. I knew it worked because their skulls still worked for my giant golems.

Feeling amazing with my success I quickly turned out other sentient species. Soon enough new beastmen based off aurochs, basilisks and other animals were being raised in the End.

It was soon apparent why the beastmen of old hadn't survived the fall of Valyria. They weren't stupid. They could learn mostly as easily as any human. The problem came from their instincts. Powerful instincts which caused problems when interacting with humans. Coupled with an inability to crossbreed and I could easily see them all getting hunted down.

I supposed if I didn't already have my samurai I might have settled for them. They physical characteristics _were_ impressive. They just didn't fit in well with how I used my military. I couldn't find a solution either. Drawing from the beast side always brought with them their instincts. I suppose I just didn't realize how much the giants were affected by the process. Suppressing so much of the snow bear side had probably helped.

It wasn't a total loss. Minotaurs, created from aurochs, were very placid after some tweaking. Actually lots of tweaking. I probably spent too much time on them, but I really didn't want to stop completely empty handed. It felt too much like losing.

Eventually they did work out. They didn't even need to be gelded. They also largely seemed pretty content to serve as manual labor. Still determined to have a win I spread them quickly throughout my empire. There were a few minor problems, but overall they integrated fairly seamlessly.

There was even plenty of space for them. The Sarnori had already managed to secure Mardosh, one of their ancient cities and were busy expanding it. They eagerly welcomed the new help as well as new settlers.

The only real complaints were from some of my nobles who didn't feel as special anymore. Seeing as my minotaurs had encouraged even more people to strike out I didn't care. It's not like any of them are risking Dothraki to expand my borders.

I sadly ended up scrapping most of my projects with them. They just weren't worth it. I couldn't even use them to build golems. Too closely related to animals probably. I really lucked out with the giants.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I exhausted my work on humans I turned to the dragons. I wasn't aiming for anything specific with them. I just wanted to create a new breed.

Dragons were powerful, majestic, and magical. They were also giant, obvious and required large amounts of food. They were symbols of terror and might. Which is probably why they are almost extinct.

Given magic seemed largely dependent on their existence I wanted a species that was less likely to be wiped out so easily. So I experimented with my large cache of dragon eggs. I was aiming to create a few different versions and scatter them across the world. Well, everywhere except the north.

It was slow going. Dragons were very magical and resisted any change. I could only make small adjustments and even then they often died. I moved the experiments into the End since I needed the time.

It took years of frustratingly slow progress. Still I succeeded. I created two smaller breeds of dragons that I dubbed drakes. They were much smaller, but still obviously magical and able to breath fire. The first version was just a smaller dragon. I shrank it down to the size of a horse. Still large enough to ride if you are light and don't have armor. The second version was semi-aquatic. Like the basilisk it could swim quite well, although it was still clearly a land animal.

By the time I succeeded I had long since been a teenager. In fact I was close to leaving that stage of my life. Still, the work hadn't been without side benefits.

One of the random things I had noticed had been how thin and strong the membrane was on a dragon's wings. It was thin enough when young to actually be translucent, with the veins easily visible. It was also incredibly tough to be able to support a dragon's bulk. No doubt magic played a part, but their skin didn't seem to get any weaker after they died.

The most important thing about their skin was that it was extremely fire resistant. Not fire proof like their bones, but still extremely resistant to heat. All of which made it perfect for my hot air balloon project.

Hot air is definitely not the most efficient method of creating an airship. Unfortunately it was the only one I had available. Still, combined with warding and dragon bones I was able to build a large enough zeppelin to actually serve as an aerial platform.

The balloon took forever to craft, especially since the materials were so hard to gather. Thank god I could generate dragons so easily in the End. I have no doubt it was the single most expensive vehicle ever constructed.

It ended up using two large balloons. I wanted a single larger one, but the dragon skull set up didn't work past a certain size. So I settled for two balloons each of the maximum size which seemed to be six hundred feet long.

Even more experimentation was required to create the very thin sheets of netherbrick I eventually settled on. It still wasn't very light, but weighted much less than anything else I could come up with. Still it was yet another reason the cargo capacity was so limited.

The final gondola was small and cramped. It wasn't wicker, but it was a close decision. It was made from thin sheets of dragon bone. The largest zeppelins from my old life could carry several dozen people along with tons of cargo. I was limited to a fraction of that.

I made the most of it. Since I didn't have room for quantity I went with quality. I installed modified arrow storm turrets, each manned by a single golem. It had twice as many launchers, shooting twenty bolts at a time. It wasn't the literal rain of fire I initially envisioned, but it'll do for now.

Still wish I had cracked the levitation effect the shulkers used. With that I could have built entire flying cities.

I've been careful to keep all my test flights only around the Lorathi islands. They've long since gotten used to the normal hotair balloons and even have some on watch towers. I want to save the zeppelin for a nasty surprise. Especially since it might not be too useful after the first couple of times I use it. With how fragile it is it's unlikely I'll ever be able to use it as more than a terror weapon.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I finished my I felt a little guilty about neglecting my empire so much, but it wasn't like I had vanished. I still made small appearances and visits. Just not as often.

Besides it was only a couple of years. By my count there was still at least three years before canon start. Not like canon is relevant anymore. Still, when the Long Night begins I'll be ready.

One of the few things I had focused on besides dragons was my preparations for the Long Night. Enormous stockpiles of obsidian and golem heads were being gathered continuously. By the time the white walkers march south I aim to outnumber them.

I had also began a massive building project. A second wall, this time of stone was constructed just south of the Wall. It was less than half the height of the Wall, but still enormous at three hundred feet high. I equipped it very similarly to the Wall.

I had to fend off attacks a few times before enough defenses were constructed. I'm not sure why they even cared. It's not like area was inhabited. Ever since I destroyed the Night's Watch everyone had moved away.

The most obvious differences were the fortresses. They're slimmer, closer to large towers than fortresses. I clustered them thickly, constructing one every mile. They also extended downwards instead of just being perched on top. They extended down three floors for a total of five. They serve a different purpose too. Every floor contains a set of windlances.

The main differences are internal. The top third of my wall is hollow. Archer slits are spaced evenly along the length of wall, protecting thousands and thousands of archers. Enough to light up the night sky.

I also have an assembly team of golems stationed underneath each tower. They have a gate that opens to the north and instructions to only began building if the Wall comes down. It was to them the bulk of my golem supplies were being shipped. There was also no ladders. This defense was strictly intended for the wights.

I can picture it now. The undead army marching over and collapsing the Wall before victoriously charging ahead. The literal wall of fire that continuously rains down as they get in reach of my wall. The way the sky blackens under stone wings until even the stars are hidden as harpies blanket the battlefield.

Even if the Night King does get a hold of a dragon it'll die soon enough. The windlances have a range of almost a full mile. There isn't any place along my wall that isn't covered by them.

I'm actually looking forward to the Long Night. I'm prepared and the harsh winter will weaken my enemies while my powers will ensure my empire will flourish. I just wish I could see the look on the Night King's face when he realizes how screwed he is.


	20. Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 20 Calm Before the Storm

Once I finished tinkering I had decided to set up a proper spy network. It wasn't so much aimed towards my enemies as it was to help me monitor my empire. It was getting too large for my to just swing by and check up on all the different parts.

It took months. Both to establish all the waystations as well as train the individual spies. Then setting up a chain of command to sort and organize the information coming in. It took nearly half a year before I felt my empire was sufficiently covered. It didn't take nearly as long to start fixing them.

I wasn't subtle. Subtle was for politicians. I was king. I crushed my enemies. And the blatant levels of corruption and neglect clearly meant they were enemies. I had made my laws clear. With how abundant resources were in my empire there was absolutely no need to cheat and swindle fellow citizens.

I guess some people are just naturally pricks. They just don't care about anyone else. Well they care now. They care about being caught by me. About fire raining from the sky and slaughtering them. About having everything your family owns confiscated because you didn't stop a family member.

It was after setting up my spy network I finally created printing presses. Thanks to the samurai training and a few other policies a large portion of my citizens knew how to read. It was by no means universal, but there were usually at least a few in every village. More than enough for me.

I made the printing guild secret. I didn't want anyone to copy it for a good long while. The reason was my newspaper. History was full of examples of how complete control of the media had always made it easier to shape the populace. There was no way I was going to let such an advantage escape me.

The printing guild also helped me start establishing libraries and schools. I didn't make them mandatory, but I definitely wanted to encourage any future scholars. On that note I started to record bits of the information I recalled from my past life.

Obviously I skipped history, but everything else I tried to record. In particular I focus on science and math. Not only were they my favorite subjects, but they also seemed the most relevant. I doubt many people will care too much about fine arts or spanish.

I actually do sponsor fine arts. Well music. I don't really care about the rest. I just don't support music in schools. Music is a leisurely pursuit, equivalent to a trade school or even college in this medieval society.

The bard school I create is pretty cheap and open to all. My past life was filled with an infinite variety of music and I missed it. I'm also paying quite a bit so I have no shortage of volunteers to teach.

As expected there are quite a few musical instruments available. Not too many were actually recognizable from my previous life. I'm grateful that so many of my friends were in band. The experience really help me when I began recreating musical instruments.

I go all out there. Piano, harpsichord, cello, I recreate as many instruments as I remember. I doubt all of them will catch on. Even fewer since I don't actually know any sheet music for any of it. Hell, I barely understand how to play some of them. Still, it'd be nice to be listed historically as something other than a bloody conquerer.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

In light of the uneasy truce the world has settled on I move the last of the clans out of the End. Without an eminent war I don't need the generations to grow up quite so fast. And too many generations of only training will probably hurt more then help my efforts. As it is I'm still a divine figure to them.

They loved Planetos. They grumbled a bit about moving initially, but with my help the transition was very smooth. They didn't grumble too much though. They had all been listening for years about the tales of sunlight, seas and all the other differences. They were all curious.

While a few clans were established on Lorath, the majority went to Sarnor. The people there were really too spread out to mount a genuine defense. The samurai would help tremendously.

They settled in fairly easily. They had to get used to water that didn't dissolve flesh and stone that didn't catch fire, but experience with my powers helped. What really seemed to throw them was the variety of foods. Even with my introduction of new plants I hadn't really had the inclination of importing every plant or spice. I guess I shouldn't be surprised they clung so closely together.

Since none of the clans liked being scattered so far from each other my next project ended up being a gate network. It was very slow. I had to build a fort to protect each relay station. It probably didn't help that I took the time to build a second secret network deep underneath the obvious one I was creating.

The forts weren't small either. Massive towers with reinforced walls filled with archers standing on top of four archways. Each arch led to a large room filled with golems. A small stone wall circled the tower. If anyone passed over it the defenders became hostile and killed everything within a quarter mile. I put up a sign too. Probably still going to kill a lot of idiots, but that's not my problem.

All that just to guard what was basically a magical hallway. Since I was paranoid I built defenses there as well. I haven't had any saboteurs yet, but I'm paranoid. Besides the golems can also keep any pointless arguments in hand.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

it was because everything was going so well that the report caught me by surprise. The Wildlings, the people north of the wall, had declared war on me.

I'm not actually sure what to think about that. They're kind of stuck all the way over there. What are they thinking? What's the point?

It wasn't a horrible thing. Peace isn't good for professional soldiers. So I was actually kind of happy about it. I pretty much arranged to the bulk of my of current samurai into the north. If they wanted a war, that's fine with me. I'll turn the entire north into a warzone.

If they last long enough I'll rotate the rest of my samurai there. No point letting any of my troops get rusty. Besides more experience is always a good thing. Although it'll probably be the last tour for many of them. The first generation samurai are getting a bit old. I should probably see about retiring them.

I don't want to even hint at any kind of social security setup. Even welfare doesn't exist here. One of the few things here I agree with. There are charity organizations, ironically many of them run by churches dedicated to me, but no government sponsored charities. No, I'll have to be subtler about how I go about it.

Actually I can just avoid it completely. The Long Night should be starting in four years. I can wait that long. And when winter starts just retire all my samurai with gifts. Keep paying the ones I call up and maybe volunteers.

Looks like I have a plan.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It didn't take long to find enough prisoners to question that I found out what was going on. They might be fiercely independent, but enough torture will break anyone.

So it turns out the giants really didn't like them being hunted. Also despite how they are treated the Wildlings didn't like me luring away their skinchangers. The last complaint was just a general one about my people stealing all their animals. My opinion was that they could all screw themselves.

The giants might be related to magic. There really wasn't much I cared about on this world. Magic was at the top of that list. So I don't care. Besides I had enough now. I had managed to raise two full generations of my improved giants in the End already. I was already planning on releasing a few groups on Ib.

The wargs were treated horribly overall. The ones that accepted my offer had wasted no time in letting the others know. Sure they had to restrict themselves a bit, but no one treated them badly. Why would they when their king had powers. Hell, even elite warriors could be granted powers. Magic was alive and accepted.

Not taught sadly since I still haven't found a type I felt comfortable spreading to everyone. Although that might change soon. With the wargs had come a single child of the forest. Thorn had began trying to teach me his type of magic in return for my aid against the Night King. I was more than happy to accept his deal.

His magic was odd. I was still trying to get a handle on it and my powers hadn't given me a shortcut yet.

As for the animals, I had already stopped. Most of them had been for my flesh crafting experiments. Didn't really need more since I had stopped. Besides if I started up again it would be with new animals. And the mammoths had been for my giants.

I don't even know why they cared about the mammoths. It's not like the Wildlings hunted them often. Not with the giants protecting them.

Still none of that really mattered. No the real reason for the war was that they had petitioned to join my empire and I turned them down.

Why? Because they had stated that they would only join if they didn't have to kneel. What they meant was they didn't want to have to follow any laws that didn't agree with their traditions. They wanted to be allowed to rape, pillage and kill.

I'm sure they thought they were being clever. Trick me into allowing them to take over my empire. They're idiots. Now that I actually know the reason they declared war I have even less sympathy for them.

If they wanted to ravage my empire I'm more than happy to return the favor. I intend to keep my troops there until there aren't any Wildlings left. I wasn't so vicious as to order them to kill everyone. No my purpose will be served with a much simpler order.

Kill everyone who refuses to kneel.

Children under the age of about five I consider young enough to spare. No one else. Wildlings don't kneel? Simple. They won't be Wildlings anymore.

I'm still not going to let them join of course. That would just cause resentment and problems later on. No, I intend to send them south with witnesses of their kneeling. That way they'll all hate each other and hopefully keep leaving me alone.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Weeks later I stared the new report. This time it was from the Sarnath region. I probably should start organizing separate states soon. It seems the Dothraki have started using repeating crossbows.

They were clearly based off the Lorathi crossbow even if they weren't the same. Instead of strips of steel they used a horn and wood composite recurve bow. Still it was clearly based on mine.

I'd wonder how they got a hold of the design but there isn't any point. Between spy networks, just bad luck of having one captured and magic there are too many ways it could have happened. I'm irritated I still haven't found a way to block any kind of scrying. Worse I know there is a way since I can't scry past the walls of Volantis.

I'm even happier that I still haven't invented gunpowder. It was all too likely to be stolen and use against me. Guns are one of the few things that can pose a legitimate threat to me. Well, in a few centuries at least.

Of course I have the centuries now.

More children of the forest had arrived. They were drawn to the large grove of weirwood trees Thorn had established. It was actually closer to a small forest. He had been in awe of my ability to grow them so quickly and had wasted no time in carving faces in many of them.

It was with their help that I had finally learned their magic. Of course as soon as I did my powers gave me a new recipe. A totem pole. Now I know my powers are screwing with me. That or the universe has a warped sense of humor. At least it seemed to support my efforts so far. It required weirwood, a giant's skull and unicorn horns to make.

It gave me a really disjointed set of recipes and rituals. Most I couldn't see any use for. One of the exceptions was one to expand my awareness and allow me to sense life. Or in other words I finally got a minimap!

Greenseeing was disorienting. Looking through the memories of the trees was intense and overwhelming, like trying to swim upstream. It was possible, but exhausting.

Warging was altered by my powers. It ended up being a helmet enchantment. Simple and efficient. The level of enchantment indicated how many animals you could control.

It was a combination of my powers that most concerned me. Necromancy allows me to posess my corpse, becoming undead. Shadowbinding allowed me to possess others. I could body jump. Even better I could use any powers the body had. I was turning into Orochimaru.

Oddly it seems the Warging helmets changed anyone besides myself who wore them. Actual wargs found their powers much easier to use but lost the ability to use them without one. Samurai lost their tattoos but then could use the helmet. Even normal people could use them, although it exhausted them.

I didn't mass produce them. Instead I started rewarding them to individuals I wanted to recognize. They could pass it down through their family. Of course I didn't want to overlook the clans. Even if most people hadn't realized it they had been supporting me for decades at this point.

I gifted each of them a sword. A combination of several types of magic each one was unique and powerful. I had each clan design the aesthetics and powers of their blade. Seeing the renewed devotion from the clans, it was well worth the trouble. Besides given how small the End was and how closely related they all were, I only had to make around fifty swords.

I also gave each of them a large block of endstone. I planned on restricting everburning materials to myself, but what I gave out was small enough. As a memento of there they came from it would serve as a secondary family treasure.

Since I was already gifting magic items I did grant a single Valyrian steel hoe to each person who established a new village. With that incentive even the Ibbenese started spreading out. They had prior experience with one and definitely wanted more.

It didn't take my long to come up with more items to spread out. Compasses were given out to every ship captain. I'm not sure why normal compasses haven't been invented before, but everyone seemed amazed by mine.

I also passed out clocks. Planetos doesn't have an actual time system. Well it does, but not one I like. Who decided fourteen 'hours' is a reasonable unit of time? Oh, yeah, the insane church of the seven. Which I already don't like since they hate magic.

No I divide time into units of ten. My empire isn't going to be hampered by weird historical quirks. There are ten hours in a day. A hundred minutes in an hour and a hundred seconds in an hour. I had to tweak the length of a second to make it fit, but not by much.

On that note everyone is going to use metric. Or Imperial standard as I've named it. I'm not sure why it was three hundred and sixty degrees before, but a circle is going to be a hundred degrees here. Everything is going to use base ten. At least people here have arabic numbers even if no one knows how they were invented. I really need to get access to the Citadel.

I even give out Valyrian steel rulers and measuring devices to each school. I want to make sure everyone is using the same units. I'm determined to cram standardization down everyone's throats.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My empire isn't the only place I'm attempting to influence. I crafted entire barrels of bronze and steel rulers and measuring devices, all to be distributed to everyone who wanted one. I even rewarded a captain who smuggled a shipment over to Dorne.

Officially Westeros is still at war. In reality my capture of Dragonstone has neutered them. King Robert has to retake it before he can do anything else. In the last few years though he's lost hundreds of fire ships and another fleet to it's defenses.

Between that and the loss of the Wall the seven kingdoms has never been weaker. The Iron Born are reaving again. They're led by Euron Greyjoy who it seems made his trip to Valyria much earlier than in canon. He found quite a bit there. More than enough to afford to build a new fleet.

Supplies which were shipped by my traders. It's funny how even when I'm not trying I cause problems for King Robert. If he hadn't tried so hard to kill me when I was younger I might even sympathize.

Dorne, while not in open rebellion, is almost as bad. Oberyn has taken to using the skull of the Mountain as a footstool. The rest of the country is too busy making enormous profits by smuggling.

Funny enough the most common item smuggled was food. Dorne was one of the few places I had never managed to get seeds from. Sure I had many of the fruits, but I none of the peppers or a few other spices. Between all of the plants I has spread and the various cultures people had gotten used to having a variety of what they eat. I probably had a bit of influence too since I like sampling new dishes.

Most of the smuggling was arranged through Pentos. Pentos in particular in flourished recently. Without Braavos or Tyrosh nearby Pentos had quickly started expanding their navy. They had also gone back to slavery and were using Unsullied to defend themselves. Without the Dothraki threat they were quickly expanding in every direction.

They were careful to not provoke anyone though. They were currently the center of trade between empires. North they had my empire, now commonly known as the Lorathi Empire. West of course is Westeros. The south was the surprise. My little sister seems to be following in my footsteps.

Daenerys was the leader of an empire calling itself New Valyria. Volantis being part of it was a given. The fact that they managed to get Myr and Lys to join was the shocker. They even had ties to Slaver's Bay although it seems they're not actually part of the new empire.

Little Daeny is a queen now. I should send her a letter.


	21. Rising Tide

Chapter 21 Rising Tide

I stare at the report in shock. Of all the things to find out about my sister, having children was _not_ one of them. How did she even manage to have three kids already?

It had been a year since I had received a reply to my letter to my sister. A reply which only demanded that I turn over dragonstone to her. No inquiry about my health. Not even asking about what i'm going with my empire. Nothing.

Afterwards I had begun expending my spy network. It took time. Spies either had to be trained or recruited. Messengers, waystations, ravenries, they all had to be constructed. Even after a year my network was pretty sparse. It was only now that I was even getting reliable intel.

Reliable if I can bring myself to believe it. Believe that my eleven year old sister has children who are all three years old! How is that possible?

Once I look at the rest of the report it makes sense. Flesh crafting. Somehow they had gotten a hold of flesh crafting. They must have used her blood to create a child. Clever. I actually hadn't thought of trying that until now. Of course I'm not sure why I'd want to.

I'm not sure how they learned flesh crafting but given the timing I'm betting on the damned glass candles. The timing fits. I still haven't found a way to block their scrying. I probably should have moved it into the End sooner. Still it's not like I really care about it anymore. It's just annoying.

Volantis seems using it a lot more than I did. According to the report beastmen have largely replaced the equivalent animal in several cases. Elephantmen were being ridden through the streets and sheepmen were now being raised for wool. Even basiliskmen and wolfmen were fighting in the pits.

They were also phasing in other beastmen into their slave castes. Actual birdmen serve as scribes, while gazellemen ran messages. Minotaurs serves as labor, which is confirmation enough for me that they were spying. Not really something I can do anything about. The most unusual were the tigermen.

Tiger soldiers were originally slave soldiers belonging to the church of R'hllor. Now they were being upheld up as true champions and believers of R'hllor. They say they aren't replacing the soldiers so much as improving them.

I'm not sure if the propaganda is right, but if it is they're using some kind of sacrificial reincarnation. Way beyond any blood magic I know about. Somehow I doubt it though. People are sheep, gullible and easily led around. It'd easy enough to fake.

Sadly I can't scry on Volantis. I'd have liked to watch one of their ceremonies. I can scry around it though. I'm impressed at what I find. There is a cluster of new cities being constructed across the lands. They're small right now but expanding rapidly. They're also being built with a variety of techniques that I recognize, including concrete and adobe.

I'm impressed. More than once I rambled about various technologies from my past life, but that was only when I was younger. I didn't think Daeny would remember so much. I wonder if she remembers where she heard about it. Maybe she thinks it's divine inspiration?

It's interesting to see the differences too. In canon Daeny absolutely _hated_ slavery. Now she's part of a religion that actively supports it. Makes me wonder just how much she knows is going on.

Checking on the other cities confirms the reports. The sheer number of beastmen being used is impressive. They really are being used everywhere. Even Myr and Lys have their fair share of them. Looks like New Valyria is doing well.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The reports from Westeros were a mixed bag. My 'war' against the Wildlings was a fairly slow campaign. The far north is enormous, easily the size of my entire empire if not larger, and sparsely populated. Hunting down everyone is a slow process.

That much I had anticipated. Small fortified towers were steadily constructed to give my troops places to sleep as well as secure land. It'd be annoying to just chase them around in circles.

The ambushes and skirmishes were quickly hardening my troops. When I cycled the first group back to rest they were clearly veterans. I even gained the children of the forest as allies. No the war had progressed exactly as I wanted.

The problem was the white walkers. They weren't supposed to be active yet. Clearly no one had told them that. My guess is that they were upset that I was removing all of their future troops, either by burning the bodies or shipping them south.

Only a handful of them had been encountered, but their effects were everywhere. It was constantly snowing and short intense blizzards sprang up out of nowhere. Wights had also begun being encountered although they were easily dispatched. Having my samurai train against zombies had it's uses.

South of the Wall, or walls now, the kingdoms were in chaos. The North was busy dealing with all of the Wildlings, who despite kneeling to me, still refused to kneel to anyone else. They also kept trying to retake Skagos.

Every attempt ended up a slaughter. They don't seem ready to give up though. Ned Stark is many things, but from my point of view he's an idiot. He has Iron Born, Wildlings and pirates from the Three Sisters ravaging his land and he's worried about an island that's trying to ignore him.

In canon the Stark family was torn apart and it was presented as a somewhat tragic tale. I wonder now if they're all just insane.

Of course the problems are confined there. The Iron Born are also attacking three other kingdoms. The rebuilt Redwyne fleet is busy protecting a handful of still open ports. The Mountain Clans, much like the Wildlings are rampaging unchecked through the Vale. Not to mention how pirates have taken to raiding them as well.

The Crownlands of course have the problem of my holding Dragonstone. The only two kingdoms that weren't facing problems I caused were the Stormlands and Dorne. Not to say things are peaceful there.

Aegon Targaryen, sixth of his name, had made his move. I suppose I can see his reasoning. Westeros has never been weaker and with my taking of Dragonstone and Skagos it might look like I have ambitions towards the seven kingdoms.

Truthfully if he can take them he's welcome to it. Besides with Daenerys building her own empire my family will rule most of the world between us. Maybe I should expand eastward and take over the Thousand Islands? Something to consider later.

Aegon didn't land alone. He brought with him a number of mercenaries including the Long Lances, the Second Sons and the Windblown. His strongest allies by far was the Golden Company which had swelled enormously with the addition of hundreds of war elephants.

He wasn't just invading the seven kingdoms either. He had declared that he was back to retake his throne. Dorne had already welcomed him and rallied in his support.

Thanks to his efforts against me, King Robert already had rumors of madness spreading. The additional rumors that all his children were incestuous bastards was the tipping point. The Lannisters rioted and the Sept of Baelor was burned with wildfire.

After that the faith of the seven had rallied to Aegon and the Faith Militant had reformed in support of him. In a beautiful political move he handed out thousands of weapons to the Poor Felllows. The order, whose symbol was a star, loved the steel morningstars made with exactly seven spikes. They were already calling him Aegon the Blessed.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Seeing everyone else expanding inspired me. I began preparing to conquer the Thousand Islands. Most of the islands there are fairly small, only a few square miles apiece. The problem came from the fact that there were hundreds of them, maybe even an actual thousand, and all of them were inhabited.

I'm not sure how much to trust rumors so I sent a small fleet. I have quite a few extra floating fortresses since I never got around to stopping their production. I had been scattering them regularly along the coast, but this seems like a much better use.

I also began pulling my troops out of the north. The white walkers have made it incredibly dangerous and I wasn't about to get sucked into an equivalent of Vietnam. No, a quick decisive campaign against possible cannibal islanders seems much better.

While this is happening I keep an eye on Aegon. I watch with glee as he seems unstoppable. Renly Baratheon actually ended up defecting to him. He brought with him most of the Stormlands as well as a chunk of the Reach. With the only two kingdoms not being attacked backing him the rest of the Reach was quickly being overrun.

Aegon's progress was astounding and at first I wondered where all his support came from. Surely it wasn't all due to the instability in Westeros? I finally got my answer when I saw his mount.

Aegon was riding a griffin! A bit ironic for someone once named 'young grif'. I can guess where he got it too. Daenerys is backing Aegon. Although I wonder why I haven't seen any when I spied on New Valyria. Unless he's using blood magic too. Just how far has it spread?

The rest of the army is what convinces me he's being backed by Daeny. The Golden Company normally maintained around thirty war elephants, not the hundreds I can see. I guess this is what Volantis had done with their elephants.

Does that make us the three headed dragon? Yeah, not sure how comfortable I am sharing a wife with another guy. Hypocritical of me, but still true. I was more than happy to leave thoughts of Aegon behind and join my fleet as we sail for the Thousand Islands.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The Thousand Islands conquest did not go like I had thought it would. When we arrived I noticed the area was very green. The water was filled with sea week, almost choked with it. Despite the sea weed you could still catch glimpses of the sea floor. The water was never more than twenty feet deep.

The islands were shallow and made of some kind of greenish rock and sand. All of it was covered in a dense layer of ferns and reeds. It seemed odd there didn't seem to be any trees.

What the islands did have were people. They were packed with them. They had an insane population density. I actually don't see how they sustain numbers that high in such a small space.

As soon as the first samurai stepping on the shore they seemed to erupt from everywhere. Almost without pause they formed a screaming horde and just charged. It was like they were rapid animals or something.

Their appearance didn't really help there. They were completely hairless with greenish leathery skin. They didn't have teeth, they had fangs. They also seemed to only be using stone age technology.

Of course my troops reacted smoothly. Like the veterans they are they flowed into formation. The front ranks braced even as arrows were showered onto the enemy. Despite their obvious lack of skill, their mindless ferocity was effective.

Step by step my samurai were forced back by sheer weight of numbers. They didn't seem to feel pain, ignoring all wounds to press forwards until the dropped dead. The samurai didn't panic though. They knew how to react.

Rows of spikes ripped through the horde even as walls rose up. With the bulk of their numbers cut off the closest islanders were swiftly put down. Then the samurai reformed their line and marched forward again.

I was so proud of them. This was exactly what I had been aiming for when I first created the samurai. They were everything I wanted. Each one a juggernaut on the battlefield. I was almost disappointed when I realized there weren't anymore enemies.

A quick search confirmed it. The island was empty now. Not a single one had held back or retreated. I give everyone a quick rest before moving to the next island.

It wasn't until the fourth island that there was problem. There was a large sucking sound and the water level began rapidly sinking. Even as I looked around I could see the water flowing through holes in the sea floor. The tide was going out.

We turn and retreat with a speed that only magic can explain. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. The water level was sinking so quickly we had barely traveled a quarter mile before being grounded. It had lowered too quickly to be natural.

The islanders had magic.

As if in answer to that thought I could see large stone statues rising out of the receding waters. They were ugly misshapen things, covered in scales. They were also recognizable. I hadn't seen any personally, but I had seen those images before. Deep Ones.

This place most likely has an ocean monument nearby. An active one too if they way the islanders act is any indication. Even now with us trapped and only a foot or so of water they hadn't charged. Instead they crowded forward, following the very edge of the water, straining towards us.

We didn't wait for them. The samurai streamed off the ships to surround them. The archers stayed on board and got ready. Normally I'd just watch to see how my troops fair, but I could see islanders from some of the distant areas already crossing where the water had lowered already. It looks like I'm going to get a final climactic battle.

I open of the chests in my cabin and assemble a golem assembly team. I set them to creating as many harpy golems. They weren't very tough, but they can glide from the ships over the samurai. I was setting up a second team when I heard the screams.

I bolted out of my cabin. The screams had come from the wrong side. Most of the samurai were set up protecting the rear of the ships since that was the side facing the islanders. The screams came from the front.

What I saw horrified me. Not for my safety. I can always rocket away. No I was afraid for my samurai. Losing this many would not help their reputation.

From the edges of the continental shelf were crawling thousands of pale white shapes. Undead octopods. Looks like I have confirmation on there being an ocean monument nearby.

The worst part was they didn't burst into flames immediately. I could see them steaming slightly but the water soaked into their bodies was protecting them. They eventually dried and burned, but the steam and smoke from the bodies seemed to also offer some protection. Each wave made it that much further.

Damn, this is a horrible position. It's already later afternoon. In a few more hours I won't even have sunlight. Truthfully I'm not even sure if the ship will be able to move if there are enough bodies in the way.

I quickly build a dozen advanced harpy golems and let them loose. They have a single order. Collect skulls. We had cleared out hundreds of not thousands of natives already. They should be more than enough to fill the backpacks they carry.

I frantically lay down dirt and pour out bone meal in order to generate enough pumpkins. I'm just thankful I have so much redstone stored. I really don't have time to try to make it, especially considering it requires energy.

I don't see much of the beginning of the battle. I was too busy building more golems. I couldn't even hear it. The thunderous roar of countless islanders continuously screaming as they charged drowned out everything else.

It was nerve wracking, having to wait for each group of harpy golems to arrive and drop off their load of skulls. Then a few frantic moments of building as quickly as possible. Spend a moment to tend the impromptu garden and repeat.

Nightfall was both a blessing and a curse. The undead from the sea no longer were weakened by the sunlight, but I could now deploy my own undead. I had been steadily accumulating a giant pile of discarded flesh from stripped the heads down for their skulls.

I go through it all within a minute. I smash out the back wall and let the zombies I'm creating pour out to face the islanders. A horde for a horde. My samurai are more than happy to catch a breather.

Fortunately the islanders are terrified of undead. The zombies barely reached them before they panic and turn on each other. The ones in the back can't see the zombies and keep trying to press forward. Their screaming works against them now and the front ranks actually attack the ones behind them.

I use the golems to start collecting as many bodies as possible. The new zombies are all directed towards the octopods. I continue until the flow of bodies abruptly halts. The rising tide has raised the water level high enough to disable the golems.

Normally a bad thing I am more than happy to leave them behind. I immediately order the dragon ships forward. There is a crunch and we slow a bit when we slam into the battling undead and then we're through.

That was intense. I am definitely rewarding all the survivors extremely well when we get back. As we sail I redirect a lot of my floating fortresses to the Thousand Islands. I'm going to need them to help me exterminate everything in that area. Much more productive use for them then just patrolling empty coastlines.


	22. Opening Shots

Chapter 22 Opening Shots

My return was not triumphant. Not only did we leave without conquering the area we suffered huge losses. Despite everything almost a third of my samurai had died. Died on a scouting mission with expected light resistance. What a joke.

That turned out to only be the beginning of my problems. Parts of my gate network were down and fires and explosives had been set off. Saboteurs and assassins had struck throughout much of my empire poisoning supplies and important nobles and officials.

The only good news was that despite their secrecy and surprise they weren't stealthy. At least not now that they had acted. The priests of R'hllor were particularly easy to spot. They raved madly as they struck and screamed in defiance to all around them. The Faceless and Sorrowful Men both were identified by their trademarks. Shapeshifting and their catchphrase.

It seemed to be the work of only those three groups primarily. Members of all three had been captured but were just being held, waiting for my orders. Despite my absence and the state of emergency not much else had been done. I should probably start distributing power soon. I can't have my empire paralyzed in situations like this.

I of course ordered the torture and interrogation of all of them. I didn't really wait though. I had my own ways of gathering information. I sent out for reports from my spies as well as started scrying.

The results were almost unbelievable. It was like the whole world had gone mad in the few weeks I had been absent. Even before if the sheer amount of preparations were any indication. I double checked but everything agreed. I was now at war with most of the known world.

Assassins had wiped out most of the Baratheon and Lannister lines. Aegon had been crowned almost without any opposition. With griffins and wildfire he had destroyed the Iron Born, devastating their fleet and even lands. He was already moving to consolidate his reign by marching north to battle the mountain clans and wildlings there.

He had a lot more support from Daenerys than I had even suspected. Tons of supplies were being shipped over to equip all the people he was sending north. He was even emptying out large portions of King's Landing. It was clear he intended to settle them in the north to tie them closer together.

It was brilliant and I'd admire it if he hadn't already made several proclamations. They included support for New Valyria. Condemnation of me and my empire. Demands to returns Dragonstone and Skagos. And of course intent to wage war against me.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

New Valyria was worse. I actually caught a glimpse of Daenerys, but only because he had left Volantis. Left, marching at the head of a massive army. She was giving a speech about purging the stain from her family tree.

The army itself was impressive. I know Volantis used a lot of elephants and now elephantmen. I hadn't realized just how many until now. There were thousands of them marching in formation. All of them wearing heavy armor that had a fold out platform in the back for archers. Massive maces and shields completed their gear. A few had very large version of the repeating crossing on their backs.

Tigermen held pride of place at the head of the infantry. No doubt eager to prove their faith. There were other types of beastmen present, but none of them seemed like soldiers. Instead they filled the normal support roles.

A second army had joined them, also made of beastmen. They flew the banner of Myr and I have no idea how I missed them when I scried the city before. They were all porcupinemen. Their hunched over forms clearly bristled with long thin quills.

They each seemed to pull a small cart with their supplies. It made sense since they couldn't wear a pack. They also were each armed with a chain crossbow. Some of them had a few quivers already filled with their quills hanging from the carts. It was another move that I'd applaud if I wasn't facing it.

None of the beastmen seemed very fast and none were mounted. The porcupinemen in particular were fairly slow. That sadly wasn't much of a weakness because what they did have was Dothraki.

The Dothraki easily out number both of the other armies combined. I'm betting most of the khals left have joined. I guess I know where they get their repeating crossbows from now.

The Dothraki rode a bit off to the side and seemed to follow the commands of the red priests who were riding with them. I couldn't figure out why until I noticed a bolt of fire leave one the wagons. A figure flies out before bursting into ash. But not before I recognize it.

That was a blaze!

They had access to the Nether! I quickly scan the rest of the army, but can't find any other examples of Nether materials. In fact the wagon I first noticed was the only one made from iron. On a hunch I scried Vaes Dothrak and found it filled with Dothraki. There was a large pit where I had buried the blaze spawner. I'd wonder how they found it, but I already know. I really hate magical spying.

Still this is bad enough. If they can control blazes they now have a source of an unlimited number of them. I almost freak out as visions of skies full of blazes wipe out everything.

Wait.

Why haven't they done something like that already?

Thinking about it, they must have trouble controlling them. Also I saw it turn to ash. It must be vulnerable to sunlight. Not really something I ever considered in the game. I guess they do kind of look like undead. Learn something new every day.

While I thought about the blaze I noticed something odd. They weren't moving straight north. Their path was odd, heading mostly East along the Demon Road.

Scrying down the road revealed why. The road was secured already. Dozens of small forts protected the road, all obviously new. Worse the road now ended at a city that was also new.

They were meeting up with yet another army. This one made up of a new type of beastmen. Snakemen. Worse they were dressed in the distinctive armor of Unsullied. Just how many places were using blood magic? And how many of them intended to attack me?

Thousands upon thousands of snakemen Unsullied marched in lockstep. More than made sense. Astrapor in the story had less than ten thousand Unsullied in their entire city. There were at least three times that many currently on the road.

Mantarys was also sending a large force of cavalry which was riding along side the beastmen. At least these troops were human.

Curious about the Unsullied I scried Astrapor. It was depressing. They were also sending troops. This time human Unsullied. Only around six thousand, but their numbers are supplemented by crossbowmen from Yunkai and swordsmen from Mereen.

At least they don't seem to be using beastmen.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Of course that couldn't be the only good news. The presence of Sorrowful Men means that Qarth is somehow involved. I quickly scry on them and find their walls protect against scrying just like Volantis. It doesn't stop me from seeing the army marching away from it's walls.

The army itself is not surprisingly more beastmen. Really beginning to get tired of that. The beastmen are different again. The basiliskmen towered over everyone, easily the same size as the elephantmen New Valyria was fielding.

Not sure how they controlled them either. My own attempts had all ended in disasters. Basilisks were just vicious. New Valyria seemed to agree since they only used them for pit fighting. However they control them it works well since they have hundreds of basiliskmen marching in formation.

The other type of beastman took me a bit to figure out. It was obviously a reptile, but the organic armor threw me off. Eventually I figured it out and it was brilliant. They used a tortoise. The armor is part of them, a reshaped shell essentially.

I only figure it out because of the armor both types of beastmen are wearing. It's stone and oddly shaped with ripples and ridges randomly placed. It didn't take long to realize it was made from coral.

The time I spent staring at the beastmen also revealed something much worse. They didn't eat. They also didn't drink or sleep or even breath. They weren't alive. Somehow every single one of them were undead and marching during the day. They had figured out how to protect them from sunlight!

The army wasn't entirely undead. A large number of wagons were being pulled by giant undead goats of all things. The wagons were enormous and housed a number of people. Given most dressed as if from Asshai, I'm assuming they're magic practitioners of some sort. There is also a red priestess I recognize.

Hello Melisandre. So that's where you ran off too. I had wondered where you went since Stannis died. Next to her was a man I almost didn't recognize. Viserys.

Huh. He was alive this whole time. Time had not favored him. He was gaunt now and his lips were blue as were his eyes. It seems he's practicing magic now. I wonder how much he knows?

The cluster of children that swirl around them is a surprise. He's more than old enough to have started fathering bastards. I didn't think him the type to keep them around though. Especially since he seems to be just ignoring them.

The kids are looked after by the only living troops. He has a number of a smaller mercenary companies with him. They tend to camp a bit away from the undead. All except one.

I don't recognize them, but they don't seem to mind the undead. That might be because they seemed to serve as overseers rather than fighters. Thousands of brindled men were herded around by them.

It was easy to tell what they were for. Every time one dropped it was loaded onto the wagon in the back. Within an hour a fresh zombie would step out. It was actually a very clever way of working around how long it take to raise something.

The mercenary company also rides around on large carts pulled by more undead. Like the wagons they had wicker coverings more for shade than rain. They also glowed when night fell, somehow preserving that property from the ghost grass they're woven from.

Every cart holds a large repeating crossbow. They're identical to the ones the elephantmen are carrying. If nothing else that alone is proof Viserys is communicating with Daenerys somehow. I don't like the proliferation of large projectile weapons. It seems like Smaug won't be nearly as overwhelming as dragons were historically.

I can see what's going on now. Aegon, Daenerys and Viserys. Together the three headed dragon. They each conquers a different portion of the world and then united them into a single empire. I'm almost hurt they didn't try and include me in their plans. Then again, I'm not really good with sharing.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I'm glad dealing the my internal threats didn't take too long. Since it seemed like all the priests of R'hllor were against me, my solution was simple. I destroyed them. I burned the churches, hunted down every priest and even the more prominent followers if they didn't declare support for me fast enough.

The assassins were even easier. After torturing a few I found the local branches that had been established. I then led my samurai into the buildings and killed everyone inside.

That all took time though. Even as fast as I moved it was enough for the situation to change. To progress.

I knew Aegon had widespread popular support. I had figured it'd make politics easier and didn't really think about it much. I really shouldn't have underestimated it. Most of my success was due to popular support. Sure my powers helped, but only the willing cooperation of my citizens was what had let me create an empire.

The problem was he didn't have popular support, he had near universal support. His support actually rivaled mine. With so many people able and willing to work with him he consolidated his rule in record time. His lack of powers were easily offset by the sheer size of Westeros and the resources that came with it. Worse, he wasn't the idiot King Robert was.

I received the reports from Skagos much soon than I planned. I thought it'd take him at least a year before he was ready to move on me! I really underestimated him.

The report was short, but scrying filled in the details easily. He wasn't directly attacking. No, he had a massive fleet set up to protect a series of giant barges. The barges were practically rafts they were so crude. However, they were more than enough to carry trebuchets.

Rather than lose anyone to a direct assault he was just bombarding them into submission. It was very clever. It was also effective. As long as nothing changed he would win. Worse, Skagos wasn't the only place he was attacking. The Wall were also under attack.

Worse Dragonstone had already fallen. I could see teams working to restore it, but the scorch marks were everywhere. Even now pockets of green fire still burned. It was clear he had practically bathed the island in wildfire.

Between this and the Iron Born I doubt he has any wildfire left. Still with the rising power of magic it was only a matter of time before he has enough to repeat the tactic. It's clear Westeros is turning into a real problem. The real issue is the fact that I'm too spread out right now.

I think I'm going to have to pull out of Westeros. At least until I can afford to concentrate my efforts there.

Actually I have quite a few fire ships stockpiled. I can use them to buy me some time. I order them all to attack. There isn't any real point in holding any back. I want every ship and port in Westeros destroyed. Hopefully that will buy me enough time to deal with Daenerys.

At least I don't really have to worry too much about Viserys. At least not any time soon. What I had taken for an inordinate amount of camp followers turns out to be settlers. He was busy marching back and forth, rebuilding several abandoned cities. I suppose it's safe enough to do so now that the Dothraki are under Daenerys's control.

The only problem seems to be the fact that he's found allies. The three cities called the Patrimony of Hyrkoon had all declared themselves for him. All he had to do was have his glowing red sword around. That and somehow cause the ground to sprout a host of plants.

Fucking Melisandre and her blood magic.

The cities hadn't sent any troops yet, but he doesn't really need them right now either. What they are doing is stocking up on supplies and getting troops ready. They are also sending crews out to repair the roads leading north. It's clear they intend to join him when he marches north.

I had just started getting Ib to recolonize several of their ruins. There was no way I was going to let them be destroyed so soon.

What I needed was something to distract them. Maybe bog them down or at least slow their progress. Like in Westeros, something to buy me more time.

Thinking about it I have the perfect idea. I look over the armies just to make sure. Yep, no siege engines at all. Even their bows were all short ranged. This should work perfectly.

I send out my zepplin. It really wasn't too useful due to how fragile it was. Against a slow, land bound army without adequate ranged attacks? It would be devastating.

No doubt they'd adapt. But the loss of their current army should buy me more than enough time to deal with Daeny. Besides, maybe I'll get lucky and kill Viserys.

In the meantime I mobilize my samurai. I also decide to tap into my stockpiled resources. A large portion of my time is spent building the mountains of redstone I'm goinng to need. I plan to bury my enemies under an ocean of golems. Then I fully intend to crush New Valyria.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I take time from my preparations to watch the newly dubbed Razorwind fight since it was for the first time. Since I was sending it into battle I had finally given my zepplin a name. I was actually pretty excited to see it.

Depending on fast it finished I might send it to Westeros. Sure the griffins will probably bring it down eventually, but it would take time. Just another delaying tactic.

It was obvious the army had seen the airship approaching. They were even prepared. The living troops were all far in the back and the undead had raised shields to form a tortoise. The wagons hadn't been moved at all. Did the maegi think they could protect them?

It didn't matter. The Razorwind lived up to its name, sending out eight streams of arrows. From above it actually looked like streams of arrows flowing out. It looked amazing. The only thing that would have made it better was if they were on fire.

The undead, while immune to sunlight, were obviously not wights. Despite the overlapping shields a few still slipped through. The undead still stood there, ignoring the arrows clearly piercing them.

Honestly they were resisting way too well. I suppose I was just impatient since I couldn't affect anything. Still watching it lash out and failing to kill any of them was disappointing. It looks like I was right that it was more of a terror weapon than anything else.

I really wish I could order it to ignore the undead until later. Still it was only a matter of time before they all died. It would just take forever. If nothing else the army couldn't move while they were under attack.

I was just about to stop and just check back later when I caught movement at the edges of my vision. Before I could shift the spell to look they arrived. Birds. Brightly colored and over sized, they swarmed the zepplin.

The Razorwind fought valiantly, but furtively. It never had a chance. Any bird struck was knocked out of the sky but they rarely died. A few moment later they'd be back up, just with an arrow or two sticking out of them.

They're also hard to hit. They're small and dodge even as they close. And once they were close enough they were impossible to hit. I watched in dismay as the flock of undead parrots slowly tear apart the balloons.

It didn't even have to decency to land on top of the infantry and explode. Instead it crashed well clear of them. If I was lucky the fires will destroy the turrets, but it's not likely. I used way too much dragon bone and skin in the construction.

I then watched as they packed the birds back into a handful of wagons I had assumed were for supplies. Looking closer there are a lot of wagons that are vaguely cage shaped. I guess the maegi really can defend themselves.

The cages were in the back which I hadn't really paid attention to before. Was that on purpose? Did they anticipate needing the birds? Just how prepared was everyone to face me?

I _really_ hate divination.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Besides gathering supplies I take time to hold a feast for my samurai. I then proceed to enhance them repeatedly. They're going to need it for the upcoming battles.

Despite the urgency of the situation I start sending off the rest of my samurai on incursions to the Thousand Islands. I want to enhance them all, but I need them to earn it first. Otherwise I'm undermining the whole concept of the samurai. I'm not willing to sabotage my own program for short term gains.

I warn them, but I don't expect all of them to survive. Without my golems to act as meat shields I expect the battle to be more desperate. To offset this I am sending the bulk of the samurai at once. They can protect each other and afford to take breaks. They also have several arrow storm turrets installed on each ship. I just hope the losses aren't too horrendous.

Deciding now is not the time to hold back I also hold a tourney in the Sarnor province. Charioteers would compete in enormous races that were a combination of obstacle courses and shooting ranges. I plan to make the races grueling. Long dangerous routes with plenty of enemies. The night version will be worse since I can use spawners then.

Finally they would be pitted against a golem equipped with armor and a shield and timed in how long it takes them to bring it down. I want teams that will be deadly accurate, not just that can spray bolts. Every team that pass will be given a new chariot. The chariot is made from shulker shells and lightly enchanted. More importantly, instead of a chain crossbow it has a mini arrow storm turret installed.

I'm just hoping I made enough. Building the chariots just takes so much time. If it goes well I'll probably start holding the tourney every year. Although I'll probably restrict it to just the top three winners. After all they're supposed to be special.

I throw another feast for the most celebrated of my ship captains. The ones who ran daring missions and repeatedly raided beyond the protection of my waters. I then announce the formation of the imperial navy.

I was building new dragon ships, an entire fleet of them. Each of the captains who joined will be given command of one if they wished.

My last preparation was to open up the use of potions. My advanced golems can use brewing stands so I set up a very few potion shops. Mostly I intend to use them with my military but getting everyone else used to them can't hurt. And it'll make my soldiers feel valued if they see incredibly valuable potions being used so freely on them.


	23. Dance of Dragons

Chapter 23 Dance of Dragons

I realized that I had more time than I first suspected. There were several independent cities between New Valyria and me. They'd have to deal with them first.

So I can concentrate on Viserys if I move quickly. And I'm already upset with him because of my airship. The problem is I'm not ready. The samurai are away at the Thousand Islands. The Sarnori are preoccupied with my tourney. Even the giants aren't ready.

They don't need to do much, but there hasn't been enough time to build up their numbers. Harvesting them now for enough skulls will set back my project by decades. Really wishing I hadn't removed them from the End now.

So since conventional warfare is out that leaves me with guerrilla warfare. So I need ambushes and traps. Slowly a smile creeps over my face. I have the perfect idea.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The Wither is probably the most feared boss in Minecraft. For good reason too. It's tough, flies and has powerful attacks. It's regeneration, high health pool and immunity to arrows just makes it worse. For me it's perfect.

I actually feel about about what I'm about to do. Withers are almost unstoppable in this world. I doubt anyone not from my empire can even fight one. Still desperate times call for desperate measures.

For this I feel the need to go myself. There is no way I'm taking any more chances then necessary. And of course I need to be there to deal with it if they try to take control of it. I didn't want to believe they could do so, but I didn't think anyone could control a blaze either.

The best part of using the Wither is that it takes time for it spawn and that it doesn't move much until it sees a target. It's easy to dig a small pit in the middle of the road and then spawn a Wither inside it.

I take care to snipe the forward scouts. I don't want them to ruin the surprise or worse lead it in the wrong direction. I shouldn't have bothered.

When the army arrives it smoothly parts to avoid the pit and marches on. The Wither glances at them and then ignores them. I completely forgot it doesn't attack undead.

One of the kids looks over the edge and it finally reacts. It flies up, shooting the kid as it rises. Once in the air it can see the mercenaries and attacks. Finally!

The fight was over horribly quickly. It was powerful, but they swarmed it with undead. It didn't even try to avoid them!

Seeing it go down I moved. It wasn't the worst case but it was bad enough. I'm not sure just what they can do with a nether crystal, but I'm not about to find out. I take an invisibility potion and rocket towards them.

As I flew over them I started dropping my bombs. They were my newest recipe. A block of TNT surrounded by a foot of oil coated obsidian gravel on it's sides. An iron plate on the top and bottom directs the blast outwwards. A fire charge and pressure trigger on the bottom and a short chain on the top to make sure it lands correctly.

Each bomb sends out a cloud of flaming shrapnel around it up to sixty feet away. I fly over the marching column of troops dropping bombs as fast as I can. I make sure to hit the nether crystal with one as I fly by.

My attack is devastating, if limited. The column disintegrates as people panic. The undead don't run, but that just means my bombs kill more of them. I wish I could do this all day, but I'm already running out of bombs.

Once again I regret the lack of gunpowder in this world. Of course I'm also really happy I never invented it. No doubt it would have been stolen already.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

A prime example of theft was my discovery that they had copied my printing press. It explains how quickly they had drummed up support for Viserys if they could print so much propaganda. I was very upset to find I didn't kill her with my bombing run. Viserys either.

Entire crates of small books were being spread throughout cities in the region explaining why they should support Viserys. It was working too. Despite having never even visited them, many of the cities supported him already if the banners were any indication.

My attacks probably didn't help there. Unleashing Withers in those cities to cripple them didn't work at all. It might have if they had panicked. No, they had to all go berserk and attack it instead. Seeing the Wither swarmed by a horde of screaming half-naked women really makes something clear. Minecraft bosses were most definitely not designed for fighting groups. It was almost pathetic how quickly they destroyed it.

At least this time I kept close enough to snipe the nether crystal when it dropped. I really needed a new method of waging war. If only wildfire wasn't almost as difficult to make as redstone, it would have been perfect.

Thoughts of fire reminded me of an idea I had previously. Steam. Between my ability to generate water and magma I could easily create steam engines. Steam could let me build larger ships, tanks, maybe even better zepplins if I used fans.

Reality crushed my dreams of a steampunk army. With how easy everything I invent was being copied there was no way I was going to introduce something so powerful. In fact the only things they hadn't copied were based off my original powers.

Hmm. I actually have an idea now. I need to get back so I can test it out.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My newest project rolls out to thunderous applause. As much as I wanted to claim sole credit I can't. It took dozens of craftsmen to help me build the first prototype. I managed to section it off and I now have blueprints from most of it. Still this really is a collaborative effort. They have a right to be proud.

What I'm deploying is the results of the Land Cruiser project. I'm skipping the whole mislabeled as water tank episode. I told everyone about the land cruisers when I started recruiting. And when the prototype was finished I paid every craftman an enormous amount of gold so they could go drink and brag to everything.

Since I obviously couldn't match my enemies in quantity, I went with pure quality. My samurai taken to extreme. The vehicles was made almost entirely from enchanted Valyrian steel. It was worth more then entire nations.

Anyone from my past life would have recognized it as a tank from the treads alone. Then they would have called me crazy. The land cruiser looked more like a mobile building than a vehicle. Like my floating fortresses it was a mobile ziggurat. In this case it was also stretched out to be twice as long as it was wide. In all it stood twenty feet wide, forty feet long and thirty feet high.

There were no balconies. Instead there were a series of recessed cubbies in which mini arrow storm turrets were placed. Each turret had an enormous curved gun shield, essentially turning it into a ball turret. There were three rows of four turrets per side. Additionally there were a single small turret on both the front and rear sides.

The corners of the land cruiser also held an obelisk which rose to a height of forty feet. The metal pillars were each capped by another mini arrow storm turret. This time the gun shield had been extended until it fully enclosed the gunner. The final effect was a bit like a fantasy tank from Warhammer 40k.

With a similar design, but much larger, three windlances were mounted on the top of the ziggurat. There was also a single windlance mounted on both the front and back in protective enclosures.

Even with now much lighter Valyrian steel is the land cruiser was heavy. To move it I used a combination of powers. The tracks weren't normal treads. They were lined in the inside with rail tracks. In fact every single link was a power rail. Not only that. I used piston blocks to imitate a combustion engine for additional power.

The land cruiser still doesn't move as quickly as I'd like. It moves at barely three-fourths the speed a normal propelled minecart travels. It's enough for now.

It took weeks to put together. I had very few smiths who knew how to work Valyrian steel. Every piece had to be made, then converts and tested. Often they had to be adjusted over and over. I didn't have time to keep trying to perfect it.

It's still not enough. I had to wait until now, when I had three of them finished, before I was willing to risk them. The loss of my zepplin made me paranoid. I wanted as little chance for something to go wrong as possible.

Due to how precise everything had to be along with the materials I was the only one who could create this vehicle. However everywhere craftsmen were hard at work creating the mass produced vehicle whose designs I gave them.

They were inspired by the elaborate mantlets I had gifted the Sarnori. A bastard offspring of a pillbox and palanquin. They were essentially mobile wooden towers. Everyone called them crawlers from how they moved.

They had three sections. The bottom was filled with mummies who carried and transported the tower on command. The very bottom of their legs could be seen while it was being moved. The upper part was filled with arrow slits and shutters along with skeleton archers. The middle was for a single human driver. He gave to direction to the mummies and told the archers what to attack.

Besides the undead there wasn't any part of the structure that needed my help. The undead were easy enough to produce since I could just make them in batches. It was nice how accepting people were of things when they were in danger.

Sadly it means that I had to move my base of operations over to Sarnor. There was no way I was going to force the land cruisers and crawlers to be shipped back and forth. I send all three of my land cruisers against Viserys along with a few samurai. Hopefully they fair better then my late airship.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

A quarter of a million men. The number is mind boggling. Seeing, even with a scrying spell, that many soldiers is intimidating. Meanwhile I have less than half. Hell my armies combined are only fraction of that size.

Still, the majority of my military are samurai and I'd say they're easily worth a dozen men. It still wouldn't be enough. The campaign in the Thousand Islands, short as it was, was incredibly violent. Despite numbers, turrets and warnings a third of them had still died.

Of course they were all now veterans and enhanced multiple times. I just wish I had more than eight thousand of them. Thirty to one odds was not a good situation. Not to mention I still had to other empires to deal with afterwards.

Still the newest class of samurai were nearly complete with their training. The End has never been fuller. Volunteers had flooded in from across my empire, each eager to defend their homes and earn glory for themselves.

I wish I could afford to wait, but Daenerys's army proved faster than anticipated. Qohor had thrown open their gates and joined her. Sneaky the way they waited. I might have attacked if I realized they would side with her. I wonder if they knew that?

Pentos declared itself neutral and willing to join the winning side if need be. Since they didn't really have an army it didn't matter much. Norvos, left by itself, still tried to resist. It was completely destroyed.

I was grateful for their sacrifice. It was the only thing that had bought me enough time to get to this point. Without having to go out of their way to deal with Norvos, this battle would have happened weeks ago.

It's clear Daenerys is no strategist. Personally I'd have ignored Norvos. Maybe sent a small detachment to keep them penned. Then rushed in and attacked before I had time to prepare.

Still, even with the time it might not be enough. Everyone worked at a frantic pace, but I still have less than a thousand crawlers on the battlefield. The projects had kept me from making golems too, so I was reduced to only a few thousand of those as well.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I lead the charge. One on one I'm undefeatable. Every gesture causes bones to sprout from the earth. Spikes, jaws, and wallls disrupt formations and kill soldiers. Every attack kills. My sword, a Valyrian steel nodachi covered in enchantment, sheers through soldiers and armor without effort.

I'm only one person though. The battle lines literally stretch as far as the eye can see. Behind me the crawlers lumber forward in short jerks to protect the mummies on the bottom. Arrows rain continuously from the slits on top. A few golems protect each crawler as they make their way forward.

Even as the enemy attempts to flank us with cavalry my chariots ride forth. The victors of my tourney are particularly devastating, sending a steady stream of arrows out. They take losses, but manage to break the charge and force them to retreat.

The imperial chariots as they had taken to calling the purple chariots I had used as prizes were also the first to include gun shields. A few others had added them, but not enough. When the porcupinemen moved forward only they survived. Everyone else was quickly riddled with arrows.

I directed several crawlers to stop the porcupinemen. It slowed them but not enough. Elephantmen charged the towers. Their armor protected them long enough to reach them and in some cases knock them over.

It was then my samurai marched out. In small squads they smashed into the enemy. Every one of them had at least a half dozen powers tattooed onto them. Like me, each was almost unstoppable. Almost, but not quite. Slowly they were being worn down, a hundred paper cuts bleeding them out

It wasn't enough. The beastmen in particular didn't seem to care about pain, about injuries or even about losses. They pressed forward and slowly, step by step we were forced back.

It was too soon! There wasn't a reserve. With how badly outnumbered I couldn't afford to hold much back. So I called my dragon.

Smaug appears as a mere shimmer in the air, hidden to all but me. Invisibility, regeneration, strength, and every other potion I could make was placed in a jar. I had just enough time to train him to eat a basket of potions on command. It paid off now.

The enemy didn't see him coming. They didn't even realize he had joined the fight until he breathed fire. A large portion of the cavalry reserve died and others panicked and stampeded through the enemies.

I hadn't been able to train him out of roaring triumph though. I felt dread when more roars answered him. From far behind the enemy lines I could see several forms rapidly climbing into the air.

Dragons.

Daenerys had dragons of her own.

They were small, obviously not as old as Smaug. There was also three of them. They also all had riders.

I quickly climbed a crawler and pulled out a windlance. It was pretty far and they moved all over the place as they fought. I kept trying.

I eventually hit one, but it was too late. The other two slammed into Smaug's back. He plummeted out of the air. It didn't matter if he survived. With only one wing he was trapped.

Damn. I hadn't really gotten close to him. Too busy with everything else to really bond. Still. He was mine!

The armies had paused when the dragons dueled and I had used the time well. We couldn't help but be pushed back, but I could slow it down. I had pulled back all the crawlers I could into a ring. The rest of my troops withdrew inside.

Almost all of the chariots opted to retreat and continue skirmishing with the edges of the enemy. I wish them well. Not that they'll need it. Between the imperial chariots and the dragon golems pulling them they'll be safe.

The lull seems to finally cause the enemy to realize their losses. They pull back and maneuver to encircle us. They put up crude walls and station plenty of sentries. It doesn't matter. Night has finally fallen.

I waste no time digging up the section of stone I was standing on and pressing the button underneath. Deep below us a series of iron doors all opened at once as my final surprise activated.

As soon as I heard to screams I flew up to survey the situation. The enemy had clearly surrounded us completely. Just as I planned. In half a dozen locations hordes of spiders were simply appearing in midair before darting forth to attack everything round them. It was beautiful.

I had arrived at the battlefield earlier and dug straight down. I had created a large set of room all behind iron doors. Then I had placed every spider spawner I brought with me there. I didn't use anything else since I didn't want to take any chances with them being controlled.

All day as we battled back and forth the spiders numbers had been growing. And now they're all being loosed at once. They brought a quarter million men. Thirty spawners, each spitting out a spider every thirty seconds. I believe I matched their number, for each man a spider.

Sadly I didn't quite have room to actually endlessly store every spider, but it seemed to be enough for my ambush. The enemy was in complete chaos. Even as I watch an explosion of fire catches my attention.

I laugh as I see the swirling lights of a cluster of blazes wreaking havoc throughout the camp. Looks like they lost control of them. What's better is they're next to the supplies. Doesn't seem like much of that will survive the night.

I look around, but don't see the spawner. Likely it's been moved or isn't even here. I hate smart enemies.

My chariots all came back when I blew my horn. I felt a pang of regret since Smaug was supposed to attack along with them. The chariots furiously assaulted the northern portion of the army, the only part that didn't have any spiders. Distracted by the chariots they almost didn't notice we were breaking camp.

The crawlers all marched north, still maintaining formation, as they slowly broke through the enemy lines. My samurai, all refreshed again after drinking more potions, all charged in. I meanwhile was busy grabbing as many bodies as possible and throwing out packs of undead to add to the chaos.

Just before they left the area I dropped down and grabbed the spider spawners. No way was I leaving them behind and chancing them being captured.

Periodically drinking potions my army quickly leaves the enemy behind. It only took a few hours of hard marching to make it back to the last camp. Although camp might be misleading. Even the romans would have been impressed by how fortified the camp was. Castle might be a better term.

Looks like we're safe.


	24. Butcher's Bill

Chapter 24 Butcher's Bill

Despite reaching relative safety it wasn't time to rest. Instead the charioteers were restored with potions and then sent out again. Sadly that used up the last of my stockpile. The only potions left were the last few the samurai carried.

The chariots should ensure the enemy gets little sleep. Without having to worry about their mounts they will attack constantly. The enemy will get little rest tonight.

I don't need to sleep and with hours to prepare I completely rebuild the camps defenses. An eighty foot wall, riddled with arrow slits rises around the camp. A second soon follows along with a series of shallow ditches. Not enough to provide cover, but enough to break up charges.

Easily defended walkways join the walls. A mile long escape tunnel, a bit narrow, but still perfectly usable is also added.

I had managed to grab quite a few bodies during the battle. I use them all creating as many undead as possible. I still don't have nearly enough skeleton archers. The issue is lessened by the charioteers, who periodically drag bodies back in nets. Sometimes still alive, although it's rare anyone survives the trip.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The enemy reacts as predicted. In the morning they march against me. They're tired and even as they march the chariots keep harassing them. It takes them most of the day to arrive and they don't pause when they see my wall. Instead they break out into a furious charge.

Perfect.

The ditches slow them down and keep them from trying to use a tortoise. Which they don't even attempt. Oh well, better too prepared then not enough. The arrows rain down and start killing them even as they claw at the walls.

Wow. The harassment was better than I thought. They're acting nearly mindless.

Then a group of enemy soldiers march up. Why are they purple? I realize what they did at the same time as my samurai.

I don't even try to stop them. The samurai charge. Many of them leaping off the wall instead of using the small armored gates. They charge deep into the enemy army, using their powers recklessly. They're almost berserk as they slaughter everyone in the way of recovering their fellow samurai's armor.

The charge was pretty demoralizing and I see the enemy waver. Then I see a pair of dragons lift off and they rally. I grin. Looks like the one I shot is still out if not dead. I watch as they get ever closer, clearly intending to burn down the giant wooden wall.

Now!

I signal and even as they prepare to breath the battery of windlances I had hidden all fire at the same time. I watch in satisfaction as both dragons are struck multiple times. The riders, in an impressive display of agility, both manage to leap free when the dragons crash.

Thanks to shulker boxes and my metal fount I always have supplies. I only made the wall from wood to draw in the dragons. Good to know they can't predict everything I do.

The army retreats at that point. They cluster tightly around the riders to shield them. I let them. Time is on my side now.

I send out my samurai to collect bodies for me. They should get at least some exercise. They also give up the rest of their potions to the charioteers. Then I send them out again. I need them to keep the pressure up. They still outnumber me by a huge margin.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I give the samurai a few hours to recover. It's late evening when I lead them on another assault. We don't stay long, just enough to force the army to rouse to deal with us. Then we retreat.

A few of them try to chase us, but the skeleton archers still man the walls. There are more of them than before. Very few survive long enough to run away.

By that time it's late enough for me. I send out the zombies. All of them. I had dug a tunnel to either side of the camp, a narrow cramped thing, but it'll last long enough. The zombies pour out and attack the sides of the camp.

Even as the zombies attack the center of the camp erupts. Giant golems, buried in preparation for this moment, all stand and start attacking. They're closer to the front than I'd like and I don't have many of them but it works. The giants tear through the camp, keeping anyone from organizing until the elephantmen rush forward to meet them.

The samurai had only taken a breather behind the wall. At the sounds of combat they once again charged forth. I was proud to see the samurai keeping up with me. This is exactly why I trained them so strenuously.

We carve deep into the enemy once again. In the dark, the nightvision given by the helmets are a huge advantage. Fighting always seems to cause fires though. Burning tents, supplies and even bodies soon robs us of our advantage.

We retreat in good order, confident and feeling victorious. I order a feast laid out as I spring my last surprise for the night.

Even as the charioteers all flee the area I trigger the same trap I used last time. This time I had longer to prepare. The bunkers were much larger. The gates also were all pointed at the same area. The very heart of the enemy army.

Thanks to the attacks I had manage to get accurate measurements without anyone realizing. I had positioned the gate perfectly. The horde of spiders was enormous. They poured out, burying everything nearby before anyone had time to react. The last of their supplies were lost before they realized they were under attack yet again.

Here and there portions of the army rallied. In particular the Tigermen and Unsullied all stood fast and didn't panic. It didn't help. Against a literal flood of spiders standing still just meant you died quicker.

At the camp almost everyone stayed up. We cheered, drank and feasted while watching the spiders blanket the land. Without anything to prevent it the army shattered. They ran off in every direction, all of them being chased by spiders. Everything that ran in our direction was filled with arrows.

At that point I shut down the spawners. No sense endangering my own troops. Besides the enemy army was gone. Even if any of them survive the night, they won't be a threat. As an army they're finished.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Afterwards came the clean up. It wasn't pretty. The land was choked with blood and torn apart bodies. I was just glad I could make undead to handle it for me. Arranging to bring back my dead for funerals was a hassle. Unfortunately it was a necessary one. Everyone else I just burned, although I did take a few samples.

My losses were incredibly light considering my army had just fought in two or three pitch battles depending on how you counted. The charioteers took the most losses. Not surprising considering they faced ranged weapons without heavy armor and were in almost constant danger.

Out of the eight thousand charioteers I lost almost half. I have no doubt it would be much worse except for the imperial chariots. I resolve to grant every surviving team an imperial chariot if they didn't already have one. They more than earned it.

My samurai shouldn't have taken any losses. The first battle only killed a few hundred, mostly from just bad luck. It was the second battle, when they went berserk, that left them vulnerable and exposed. They retrieved the armor, but paid for it. They also collected all their dead on the way back, which made it even worse.

I lost almost two thousand samurai. It was a horrible blow. They were supposed to be invincible!

Still. Six thousand dead in return for destroying an army numbering over a quarter million. Hard to be upset with numbers so obviously in my favor. And with luck the newest classes of samurai will graduate before I have to face anyone else.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Flush with my success and wanting more good news I scry on the land cruisers. If they're keeping to the schedule they should be be making contact with my brother right about now. I don't want to miss their first live fire exercise. I have high hopes for them,

The initial clash is very promising. The land cruisers easily plow through the massed undead. Nothing they have is capable of actually damaging the armor that sheaths them. While the the various projectile weapons aren't really effective against undead they aren't completely useless.

The windlances at least work well. Their bolts tear entire lines of bodies apart. As for the rest? Well the sheer volume of fire is at least wearing down the undead. At least when they hit. While the undead birds couldn't get through the armor they were more than capable of blocking sight lines. The turrets were practically reduced to blind fire.

At least my rams work. The ram was a series of angled enchanted blades allowing the land cruiser to literally plow through enemies. A last minute addition, I was very glad I thought of it. Where as the various turrets labored to slowly pick apart undead the ram had no such problem.

Every undead the land cruiser struck was almost instantly turned into a cloud of ash. Even most living creatures were similarly vaporized from the amount of damage dealt. Since a ram was located at both the front and rear there was little danger of being bogged down and trapped. With it the land cruisers charged down the road virtually unopposed.

I love seeing my enemies so easily destroyed. Still they could be better. Already I can see where I can make improvements. Designs for new war machines are already forming. After all given how much effort it requires to make them, it makes sense to turn them into unique works of art.

I even know how I can go about doing so. Hold a contest for people to help design new war machines. Reward the winner well and people will fall all over themselves to submit ideas. They don't even have to be working models. Wood models or even detailed enough blueprints would be enough.

My plans were interrupted when I see the army finally react. The air shimmers and one of the land cruisers abruptly veers off the road. It takes me a second to realize one of the maegi must have used an illusion. Clever.

Not a great tactic though. He obviously can't cast it only all them and since he needs line of sight he had to step into the open. Which proves to be a mistake when he's riddled with arrows.

Viserys is attempting to rally with mercenaries. He's riding around waving his glowing sword around. Surprisingly a lot of them are listening to him. He might even have succeeded if he didn't get shot.

The bolt from the windlance didn't actually penetrate. His armor was likely Valyrian steel. It didn't save him. The bolt broke him, folding him in half. If he wasn't dead, he was at least crippled.

Seeing Viserys taken down so abruptly broke the morale of the mercenaries. They scattered. For the most part the land cruisers ignored them. Without a leader they weren't a problem.

The wagons had been largely ignored. Once they were knocked off the road and the undead animals pulling them destroyed they weren't going anywhere. The land cruisers passed them to start slaughtering the female troops from the Patrimony of Hyrkoon. Without armor the turrets finally had their chance to shine.

When the earth shook and a crevasse opened up beneath one of my land cruisers I almost panicked. I was afraid of another colossal failure. Sure the army was pretty much broken already, but losing the land cruisers in the process was definitely not a fair trade.

I cheered when I saw it still moving. Thank goodness I went with treads instead of wheels. They tear into the ground until there is enough purchase for it then drag itself out.

I look around and see movement near the wagons. Red cloth fluttering in the wind to match the large pool of red on the ground.

Melisandre.

Even as I watch she tosses aside a small body and reaches for another. She's sacrificing the children.

Royal blood. She makes a fuss about it in the books. I had forgotten about that. It's effective too if the earthquake was any indication.

I'm really glad I placed samurai in charge. They don't panic at the use of magic. Instead they look for the caster. They all race towards the wagons, firing as they go.

I'll give Melisandre this much. She doesn't panic. As calmly as you'd drink tea she starts cutting the throats of all the children she can reach. They all just sit there too. Probably from another spell.

Jagged cracks in the ground slow the land cruisers long enough for her to finish sacrificing most of the kids. Abruptly a massive tornado of sand rises up around her, blocking her from sight. It's strong enough to batter the land cruisers and even tips one over.

From beneath her a dragon made from sand forms. I'm disappointed to see her escape. She takes with her one of the smaller kids. Definitely going to be a problem later on.

Besides her escape I only have one regret, the fact that they didn't take any prisoners. I really want to know how they managed to create undead that don't burst into flames from sunlight.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Staring at the remains of the army as my land cruisers mop up I realize now it when an airship would be the most effective. Hunting down the escaped remnants as well as harassing vulnerable targets was perfect for them. Not to mention one of them could have chased down Melisandre.

Well, there's still time to make up for my mistake. With that thought I venture into the End to start working on another zeppelin. What I find is amazing. The advanced golems can learn. Clearly I need to be careful.

Seeing me carefully harvesting the wings from the ender dragons they had continued once I left. There was entire crates full of dragon skin. Enough to build a few airships.

In keeping with my new preference for war machines each of the zeppelins I make are different. Sadly, the limitations of my equipment and powers mean they use the same design. I do manage to make to balloons a bit wider to increase carrying capacity, but it was something I did for all of them. No point using an inferior design just for aesthetics. What I can change is their coloration and weapons.

The first one was actually just an improved version of the original Razorwind. To free up more weight I actually reduced the number of golems crewing the ship. I then installed elaborate weapon emplacements and painted it black.

The weapon emplacements weren't so much a single turret as an array of them. I admit to stealing the idea from Thomas Jefferson. Instead of copying the movement of a pen, it mimics the movement of the single manned turret. All six move and fire together, generating walls of arrows.

It still wouldn't be much use against hardened targets, but that's what the second design was for. The infinity enchantment has a very capricious definition of what it counts as normal ammunition. It took a great deal of experimentation since there doesn't seem to be any logic behind what counts and doesn't.

Sadly normal arrows just didn't have the volume to build anything powerful enough. So I was limited to the large bolts the windlances fired. I still only succeeded due to the exotic materials my powers let my create. The end product was a very decent fire bomb for it's size.

Even then the bolts were just a tad too large. I had to create a new version of the windlance to fire them. I had to limit it to only firing a single bolt at a time, but it was worth it. Ten turrets are a pretty decent artillery battery. I named it the firestorm and of course paint it red.

The last was both based off my water creation engine. Icestorm was colored blue and operated the closest to an actual bomber. It was designed it float way above the enemy and just rain chunks of ice down on them. Simple, but effective.

I attempted to go the opposite way with steam and ended up creating a new land cruiser instead. I just had too many things I wanted to add and there was no possible way for an airship it carry it all.

Cloudkill was painted white to blend in with the steam it generates. It was also meant to get close to enemies. Beacons here work differently than the game. First, every status effect in the game is possible. And I do mean every. Second, it works on everyone who is within the glow.

The glow from a beacon is fairly short range and can be blocked by almost everything. However, reflected light still counts. Which means large cloud of steam create large glowing areas that can spread the effect of a beacon. I even install small vents on the bottom to shroud the land cruiser constantly.

I don't just use a single beacon either. I have one for Blind, Slow, Nausea and Damage. Unfortunately Wither is one of the few status effects I can't create. I also wish mobile beacons didn't have such a reduced area.

The main weapon itself is simple. A giant water hose. A pressurized tank pumps out boiling water. The turret is mounted on the very top to let it aim in any direction. The secondary weapons were actually a set of arms that mounted spinning scythe blades on the end. Between enchanting and Valyrian steel the rotating blades could sheer through even knights in full armor.

All that took room and the Cloudkill was definitely larger than the other land cruisers. It stood as tall as the originals at thirty feet. However it was much more stable being a full fifty feet on each side.

Using the same design I built another land cruiser based around a flamethrower called Pyromancer. It lacked almost everything else though since I needed to space to install the fuel generator. It was simple enough to create.

Create a special arrow made of soft wood soaked in oil and sealed with tar. Build an oil press that a golem can use. One infinity enchantment later and I have a source of oil. Since I didn't need it quite as pressurized I was also able to install four turrets instead of just one. Not wanting it to coat itself in napalm I placed the turrets on the corners.

The beacons should protect the Pyromancer from anyone who got too close. I also only used one, Damage. Hopefully it's effects will just be attributed to the heat. It didn't really need to cover much area so I didn't bother to place a pyramid underneath it.

Half a dozen other projects had been started. All inspired by my past life and the wonder that is Valyrian steel. If I had any access to electronics I'd easily have a hundred times that number. They'd have to wait for later though. Even with the End there just isn't enough time.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With five land cruisers now that my first three made it back I feel confident invading New Valyria. I send them off together. Their target was Slaver's Bay. The samurai in charge were instructed to destroy every city in the area. I want to cut off any chance of more support from there.

I'm condemning at least five cities to death, but feel no regrets. They made their choice. Besides give it a few weeks and then I can swoop in and rescue all the freed slaves. Instant loyal populace.

I also make sure to send out my zeppelins. Razorwind heads off to wipe out any Dothraki. They're persistent and annoying and after the recent battles my Sarnori need time to recover. Meanwhile Icestorm is sent to bombard Myr.

From reports and scrying I know Skagos has already fallen. They didn't capture it, but did have enough wildfire to gut the population. The island, like Dragonstone, was now empty and ruined. I'm really glad I started breeding unicorns. I doubt there are many left on Skagos.

At least my fire ships worked. Westeros is now landlocked for the near future. Which of course might be why they're assaulting the Wall so fiercely. I send the firestorm to protect the Wall. It's instructions are simple. Patrol the area known as the gift. Sweep back and forth and start killing everyone who even approaches. I really don't want to chance the white walkers getting loose.


	25. Aerial Superiority

Chapter 25 Aerial Superiority

My land cruisers perform perfectly. I take great delight in watching them devastate entire armies. It's annoying most of the soldiers they face are slaves, but can't be helped. Seeing them just confirms to me that I really need to create more of them.

Two cities have already fallen. Their lack of walls meaning the land cruisers and go straight from killing their soldiers to killing their citizens. In keeping with their orders they do at least try to avoid killing groups that are obviously composed of only slaves.

Of course they can't do anything about the remaining cities. The main three cities of Slaver's Bay are each protected by massive walls. The land cruisers can do many things. Climb is not one of them.

Then again they don't really need to do they? The walls protect them but they also trap them. Cut off from any support they can't possibly feed themselves. Confined inside with dwindling supplies it's only a matter of time before they turn on each other.

Showers of arrows and fire bombs just make the situation worse. The samurai I sent take great delight in waiting until a caravan makes it within sight of the city before destroying it and burning the supplies they carry.

The Razorwind is finally making up for it's miserable initial showing. The Dothraki, with their lack of siege engines and buildings, are incredibly vulnerable. Already Vaes Dothrak has been abandoned, choked with tens of thousands of bodies.

Myr as likewise fallen. Two days of constantly falling ice had managed to flatten a large portion of the city. A large slab of ice, falling from hundreds of feet, easily punches through roofs and often collapses any building it strikes. It's impressive seeing how quickly a city can be destroyed.

The cities New Valyria recently conquered have already left their control. Qohor had already sent an emissary to explain how they were scared and only joined under threat. He was very convincing. Sadly for him I had actually watched as Qohor cheerfully marched to war alongside Daenrys. They would get no sympathy from me. My terms were going to be just short of ruinous.

Pentos as already stated had petitioned to join my empire. Not only had I won an epic victory my fire ships had been witnessed devastating the coast of Westeros. We're currently in negotiations since there are large parts of their culture I'm not really happy with.

New Valyria doesn't seem bothered by the loss of their allies. Instead they seem to be drawing together. The church of R'hllor seems firmly in charge still and my spies report that they are turning out more beastmen every day. At least they'll take time to finish growing.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Scrying Westeros I'm glad to see they've stopped attacking the Wall. They haven't given up though. I can already see massive projects underway. I have no doubt they're aimed at me somehow. Westeros just seems determined to remain a problem for me.

With the fall of Myr I can now deploy Icestorm. I originally intended it to go to Qarth, but Westeros seems like a much better use. I pull Razorwind to protect it from any griffins before sending them off to join up with Firestorm.

My new orders for the air fleet are simple. Start at the Wall. Sweep south. Kill everyone.

I have no doubt Aegon will try to stop them. I doubt he'll be able too, not against all three zeppelins. I wonder how long it'll take Westeros to beg me to stop?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

After a few preparations I march again. This time I head to the Patrimony of Hyrkoon. They rallied in support of Viserys due to a little mummery. Let's see how they react to the real thing?

My version of Lightbringer is a massive greatsword. The blade is five feet long, six inches wide and layered with powerful enchantments. Since I refuse to use illusions I embedded small pieces of netherbrick into the blade to wreath it fire.

Combined with the strength boost from my armor it can reduce most targets to ash with a single swing. While it looks very similar to my samurai armor there are key differences. The scales etched on the surface are lined with gold or Valyrian steel. Underneath I also now have two additional layers. I doubt there are many things capable of even wounding me now.

For added effect I bring my newest dragon. Named Fafnir, he was my favorite out of the current clutch of newly hatched dragons. I picked him for my personal mount because his scales were the exact same shade of purple as my armor. He had black markings and highlights providing a nice visual contrast. It'll look even better when he's finally large enough to ride.

I had aged him up a bit in the End, but there is limit to how much I can do so since I still can't seem to alter the size of the End portal. Still, he's already much larger than a horse. Within a year I should be able to ride him. It's amazing how fast a dragon grows when it has access to unlimited food.

I leave behind the rest of the clutch of dragons and children. Seeing both my siblings with kids reminded me that we are the very last of the family. Establishing a lineage will help reassure my empire that things are safe and stable. Besides I'm really curious to see if any of them will inherit my powers.

Before I left I organized my empire into kingdoms. Each one I fully intended to eventually be ruled my one of my children. So far I have Lorath, Sarnor, and Ib firmly set up.

Lorath now consists of the coast from what used to Braavos all the way to Bitterweed Bay. Sarnor is much more inland and while small now is rapidly expanding into the Dothraki Sea. Ib contains the islands and the coast from the Bay of Tusks to Leviathan Sound.

I have a few possible other kingdoms in mind for the future. Pentos, if they prove cooperative enough, will end up controlling much of the Narrow Sea. Omber would fit in perfectly, at least geographically. More likely though is that they'll try something stupid without the Dothraki and I'll be forced to conquer them.

Finally the Thousand Islands, at least once I finally get around to securing them. I plan to use them to wipe out the Jogos Nhai, which are basically Dothraki with slight differences. It will also allow me to extend even further east. Far past where anyone has ever ventured, at least on written record.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My trip was fairly disappointing. I'm not really sure what Melsandre did to convince them before, but it was extremely effective. They acted more like rabid fanatics that people. They absolutely hated me and wasted no time denouncing me as a pretender.

Not even my equipment helped. Which was just insulting since they considered them mummery. Sure they were right, since I only made it to convince them, but at least they were real and not just an illusion.

In the end they stayed loyal to Viserys. They didn't even believe me when he was dead. Really wish I could show his head, but Melisandre's sandstorm had destroyed all the bodies in the area. It's a real shame so many of them insisted on fighting to the last. With their martial culture they would have made an amazing source of future samurai.

At least my samurai were happy. The gigantic battles as they crushed each city in the Patrimony were more then enough to grant them the tattoos and prestige my veterans had. With that my total number of samurai now exceeded twenty thousand. Not a large number in comparison to the armies of several other nations, but more than enough for me.

I took them all with me. I waited and even went back to pick up the rest. I didn't need them, but I wanted to make sure all of my samurai were part of a single army. I was not about to let thoughts of newcomers or anything else divide my forces. A long forced march through a desert sounded perfect for making them get along.

Traveling the Red Wastes wasn't dangerous. I can generate endless amounts of food and water so it wasn't dangerous, just very very irritating. Additionally their training meant they could handle it better than most.

My army made very good time moving towards Qarth. They were too disciplined to complain much, but they definitely didn't enjoyed it. Slowly they all united under their mutual hatred of the desert. Seeing it happen I felt quite proud of myself.

I periodically tried scrying Melisandre and as far as I can tell she is still somewhere in the city. Despite our pace I still worried about her escaping. I still remember her flying away on a sand dragon.

Once we arrive it was easy to see they had been preparing to face me. The gates were closed and the walls were surrounded by an entire army of undead. It looks like they had completely emptied their infamous garden of bones.

Despite having marched for hours to get there my army prepared for battle. The preparations didn't take long. They were well trained and I didn't really use large scale formations. In small groups they all rushed forward.

While my samurai didn't use large formations they were very familiar with small ones. They worked smoothly together, protecting and aiding each other as they destroyed all the skeletons.

Halfway through the battle the gates opened and the rest of the army marched out. It was obvious what was going on. They figured my army was tired and were trying to take advantage of it. It might have worked if they weren't my samurai.

They had been holding back so far. After all they were only facing undead. They all faced worse odds during their training. With the new army they stopped doing so. Walls rose up to block archers and interrupt cavalry charges. Rows of spikes and snapping jaws rose from the ground to tear apart entire squads of infantry.

I have no doubt the Qarthians are familiar with magic. The undead army will support that. I doubt they ever believed they would face an entire army of magic users. It took less then an hour to shatter their army.

The troops panicked and fled in every direction. Many of them even ran into the red wastes.

I didn't even try to negotiate. My army marched into the city and sacked it. They had just began when the army they had just defeated rose up and attacked them from behind. It didn't stop them. What it did was enrage them.

After that they were very thorough, decapitating every body and killing everyone that showed the slightest resistance. I found Melisandre at the entrance to the local church of R'hllor. The church looked new. She was standing over the body of the kid she had fled with.

She said something when I approached. I nodded, but didn't really pay attention. I didn't care. As soon as I was close enough I decapitated her. No loose ends, especially for someone who sacrifices kids. I made sure to destroy the temple before leaving.

The House of the Undying was already burning when I arrived. The warlocks had set it on fire themselves. They were almost rabid in their defiance. In the end any we captured just committed suicide. Spiteful bastards.

On the way out I inspected the walls. I was surprised at just how little magic there was. There was enough to block scrying, but little else. Maybe the warlocks weren't a threat? Eh, better safe then sorry.

When we left we took everyone who wasn't killed. There was barely a thousand, almost all of them former slaves. They didn't really have anything I needed, but killing them just seemed wrong. If nothing else the genetic diversity will be helpful.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

At least the campaign was long enough to give me time to brainstorm some new ideas for war machines. I realized the treads my land cruisers use can actually serve as a power source. Just make it smaller and internal. Instant engine.

Finding a use for it was actually a chore initially. Dispensers and piston blocks were more than powerful enough for now. Any improvements there weren't worth the additional weight and size.

Then I remembered that I wanted to expand my air fleet. Sadly it required all too much Valyrian steel to be mass produced but I now have helicopters. Or rather a quadcopter. It was much harder to fly and required a trained pilot, which meant I couldn't use it as an autonomous drone.

On the other hand it was much faster. It couldn't very agile but in a straight line it could even outpace me when I was using rockets. Fafnir isn't too happy with it, though that just might be jealousy.

The other benefit was that it could carry almost as much as a zeppelin despite being a fraction of the size. Taking advantage of the fact the 'engine' was already there I made it power the same windlance turret the Firestorm uses.

I only have nearly as many launchers, but they each have a much higher rate of fire. Since I don't have a gunner, all of the launchers are fixed in a forward firing position. It made it much easier to squeeze in a fixed arrow storm turret in addition to the two windlances.

In the future might make a few to carry squads of samurai into battle. My samurai are powerful, but they're still infantry. Which means slow.

On that note I quickly build a few more vehicles. Essentially just powered wagons mounted on treads they should lower the travel times of my army considerably. Really kicking myself for not thinking about it before. Maybe I can present it as a reward for surviving the desert?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

New Valyria had fooled me. The new beastmen, the stockpiling of armor, all of it just an elaborate smokescreen. They weren't preparing for a war in a year or two. They were ready now.

Already their new army streams north. Seeing their nightmarish forms it's clear what they had done. They had created a beastman, not with an animal, but an insect. Not just any insect either. A manticore, the most poisonous creature in the known world.

The resulting beastman were a vaguely humanoid figure that was clearly more insect than human. It stood four feet high and was covered in a iridescent shell. They can't fly, but their wings allow them to glide much like my elytra does. And of course they still have the scorpion tail.

I hadn't even known that was possible. I guess I just assumed there was a minimum size. How does its even breath? At least they can't fly. That really would have been cheating.

It's clear whatever they did works and works well. Hordes of the manticoremen are already loose and it looks like they're spreading like a plague. Seeing their behavior it doesn't even look like New Valyria is controlling them. Just creating them and then letting them loose.

Sure they're heading north, but they're wiping out everything along the way. Most of the tributary cities for Volantis are located north. Already one of them has been overrun. Seeing the obviously feral creatures makes me think it might have been a good thing old Valyria had fallen.

It also makes me determined to wipe out the practice of blood magic. I am not willing to deal with something like this every time someone goes crazy.

The one good thing about the progress of the manticemen is that it's slow. Of course that's only because they're killing everything in the area and then laying a clutch of eggs before moving on, but that's a problem for later. Right now I need to survive the first wave.

And do something about Volantis before they do anything even crazier.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I call back my air fleet. I was surprised to find they were still in the north. Turns out when people scatter and hide it's a lot harder to wipe them out. I send them to Volantis. Hopefully that will at least delay any further insanity from them.

I also recall my land cruisers. Slaver's Bay can wait. Armies of humans are much preferable to swarms of the manticoremen. I sent them to meet the swarm. Really hoping they can at least slow their progress.

I then mobilize the entire empire. With the threat facing everyone I have more volunteers for training than ever before. Fortifications and watch towers are being built everywhere. Crawling towers are once more being assembled. Everyone pitches in. Slowly we work to close off the empire.

Meanwhile I'm hard at work emptying my reserves of dragon parts crafting as many additional zeppelins as possible. I'm also stripping my bases in the Nether to arm all the new Razorwind-class zeppelins. As they're completed I send them out. I don't have time to wait for a massed strike.

It won't be enough. I can visible see my stocks depleting. Even spawning them faster with end crystals won't help. I have a limited supply of them and ghasts are one of the few things I've never found a way of farming. Not that I needed it before now.

It took the help of the children of the forest to come up with a solution. If I can't use dragon skin find an alternative. Make one if need be. But since animals take so long to raise, use a plant.

It wasn't easy, but the newly dubbed Emberwood trees were a great success. Their wood was very light, fairly strong and most of all extremely heat resistant. Combined with the fibrous, layered bark and I now had everything I needed to make an endless supply of zeppelins.

Taking in the children of the forest was easily one of the best decisions I've ever made. Their price of establishing a godswood in every city was a very small price to pay.

Of course that doesn't solve the problem of equipping the quickly growing fleet. Every weapon on the original air ships required extensive enchanting. I don't have time to do that. Not to mention I lack enough dragon skulls.

Actually without dragon skulls I can just scale up the zeppelins as large as I want. With a larger size I have room to install a propulsion system. I had just perfected rotors for my quadcopter so propellers shouldn't be any trouble, even if I don't use Valyrian steel.

The balloon ended up being a full thousand feet long and three hundred feet wide. Since I was still using headed air it still wasn't capable of carrying any significant amount of cargo. Still, it was enough for me.

A small crew of a dozen crewed the vessel and were mainly there to man the newest version of the windlance. Firing a lighter bolt and with it's elevated position it shot in almost straight lines. A rear extension for an extended power stroke, iron sights and a scope were the main modifications. The ship only carried four of them since they were intended for harassment and sniping rather than battlefields.

A single golem was part of the crew and served mainly to utilize the storage chests for ammo and other supplies. A single infinity enchantment was meant more for collecting the bolts during downtime than combat. Along with the ammo racks and chests there shouldn't ever be a shortage.

In a moment of whimsy I blame on the stress of the situation I name the new type of zeppelins Cloud Cars. That gets changed really quickly when I get tired of trying to explain what a car is without sounding crazy.

The best part was that most of the vessel could be built without my powers. Like the fire ships and crawlers soon every village and city was busy constructing them. I did have to make sure to ship the heating systems, but golems were able to gather all the supplies for them and even help put them together.

Entire fleets of the renamed Cloud Ships were soon taking flight. Everyone else cheers madly when they see them. As for me, I can't help feeling I really should have introduced gunpowder.


	26. Lashing Out

Chapter 26 Lashing Out

I was pretty excited when my zeppelins reached Volantis. I can't scry past their walls and I had never gotten around to just visiting. Seeing how Daenerys had dragons with her I'm very curious to see if they have any more. After all she did have children.

When the walls cracked and the city finally appeared my impression was very very mixed. Volantis was gone. Sure the buildings still stood. It was the people who were gone. Everywhere I could see was positively crawling with manticoremen, many of them obviously not fully grown.

I guess I know how so many of them appeared so quickly now. Volantis didn't secretly breed armies of them. They lost control of them. Between the walls and large population it was the perfect breeding ground for an infestation. I guess it also explains why they never attacked Volantis. There wasn't anything there to attack.

While it's a bit horrifying to see such an enormous number of new manticoremen about to appear, at least this means there won't be any more threats from New Valyria. The zeppelins continue their attack but I can already tell it won't be enough.

Worse the cracked walls had freed the enormous swarm trapped within it's walls. Seeing the seething masses rushing towards the gap in the wall reminds me of the starship troopers movie. Not really sure why I still remember that.

There must be at least a million of them. All now free.

I need more information.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I send a full century of samurai out. They're assigned two of the autos, short for automatic wagons, which is what everyone was calling them based on an offhand comment I had made. I don't even remember saying it, but it stuck. I get a few odd looks when I grin every time I hear someone call them that. They also have a half dozen cloud ships along with a razorwind.

The mission is simple. I need them to probe the swarm. I have no idea how effective my current set up will be. If possible they need to capture a number of them for testing.

They take with them a number of my newest potion. Using milk as an ingredient along with a few other steps somehow a potion of antidote which removes poisons and disease. Not sure how that second part works it's a nice addition.

The initial clash was not promising. The airships opened up first, showering them with arrows. The manticoremen just kept charging. They only stumbled the few times an arrow lodged in a joint. I was glad the windlances at least managed to kill a few.

Once they reached my samurai was incredibly glad armor doesn't follow game logic. The armor was easily able to stop most attacks. That's where the good news ended. The few attacks that still managed to get through almost instantly dropped them. They didn't even get a chance to drink their potions.

They didn't die at least. I could see a few twitching on the ground. Without anyone to pull them back it didn't really matter. I was very glad they only attacked a small swarm. The fight ended quickly enough to force the potion down a few of them. The rest had died already. The manticoremen venom was incredibly strong.

Still they won. And even better they captured several specimens. After taking losses even when they had every advantage no one seemed to mind returning. It was a much quieter and serious force that came back.

People already were aiding me with projects such as the air fleet, but it seemed more out of obligation or pride. After how powerful I had already proven many of them didn't really feel threatened. That changed quickly once the samurai returned.

Word of mouth was always taken more seriously than any official announcements, even with my habit of honesty. Everyone worked with much greater urgency now that they believed the danger. The problem was I didn't have the numbers. With the baby boom well underway there wasn't many people who could be spared.

It was while they were transporting the captured specimens back that a new problem surfaced. The dragon ship was attacked. Quite seriously too.

The samurai reported flashed of light underwater even as a variety of creatures climbed up the sides. Not just the undead octopods were attacking. Fish people fought alongside them. Giant krakens, while staying in the sea, lashed out at anyone too close to the sides.

They still won, but it was close. The ship was listing badly by the time it reached port. The ambush was costly, killing several samurai. Once back I confirmed that the fish people were Deep Ones. They looked just like the statues I had found. The perfectly round holes burned into the hull also matched the lasers that guardians use.

Looks like they followed us back from the Thousand Islands.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

While I could just needed to identify the bodies at the docks, testing the manticoremen required much more elaborate facilities. I had them all moved into the End. I wanted the results from the testing as fast as possible.

The results are not promising. Their shell is a beautiful piece of work. It's light, strong and fire resistant. Good enough to substitute for shulker shells as long as I'm not creating the boxes. Basically tailor made to withstand everything they've seen me use.

Bad right now, but potentially very useful in the future. I can easily see myself using the shells for a variety of purposes. Although I might have to wait a little, people get hung up on things sometimes. Which is fine since I can probably make something similar to use in the meantime. A simple color change is easy enough to arrange.

After all the few they caught wasn't enough to run all my tests. Turns out nearly mindless creatures can be bred in captivity fairly easily. I end up with plenty of eggs.

The testing proved that they are much stronger then their size would indicate. They can easily stab through most armor. They're four legs make them stable and fast. They don't even have hands. Their arms just end in stingers.

Their power came at the cost of limitations on their movements though. They're fairly awkward trying to almost anything else. Things such as jumping and climbing are almost impossible. Turning in confined spaces and other maneuvers requiring agility and flexibility are completely beyond them. They seem designed to just charge forward and attack. They really are just killing machines.

Their venom supports that view. Not just their tail is poisonous. Their mandibles are as well. And of course the stingers on each arm. The venom is incredibly painful, enough to lock up all the muscles. It's also lethal, killing most creatures within a minute.

About the only good news is that they aren't actually sentient. They really are a fairly mindless swarm. They can't overrun the planet. Well they can, but they can't hold it. After a short while they'll starve themselves out of existence.

They also can't swim so I at least the islands are safe from them. Of course Westeros isn't safe. Not anymore.

When I finished testing them I shipped over an entire boatload of eggs. The hell was I going to let Aegon recover while I dealt with an existential threat one of his allies unleashed. I suppose that's one way to deal with the white walkers. Just have all the humans eaten before they show up.

Since my razorwinds are fairly useless against the manticoremen I feel free to direct them against my other enemies. I split them up. I make sure to send the original razorwind and icestorm back to guard the Wall and send a pair of razorwinds to attack King's Landing. Another pair was directed to Dorne and a third pair towards the Riverlands. I even send a fourth pair to Casterly Rock, because fuck Lannisters.

The remaining razorwinds I send out to start sweeping south and wiping out every settlement that wasn't mine. It might be a bit callous, but the manticoremen can't eat rotten meat. Without food they'll either starve or be diverted. I won't stop all of them, but every little bit helps.

On that note I finally got around to setting up teams of golems to build a wall around the empire. It was a simple wall, ten feet high and six feet thick and made from dirt. It had a wide shallow ditch in front.

It was meant more to give the samurai something to defend than actually stop anything. The Firestorm helped by clearing out all plantlife for a mile in front of the wall and a ways behind it. Combined with the patrolling cloud ships and autos my military should hopefully be able to stop any invasions.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With my empire's responses well in hand I turn towards new schemes. Projects and ideas to safeguard my empire. The first and easiest was gunpowder. Despite the dangers I need the advantage it brings. I even have ideas on how to control it.

It takes less than a day to finish my tests. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or disappointed that infinity doesn't work on guns. Since I'm not willing to share the formula I shelve the project again. Besides it would take far too long for the knowledge to be usable without my powers boosting progress.

Still, I wasn't about to completely abandon my idea. I just had to adapt what did work. It didn't take long to find a compromise I was satisfied with. I adapted the concept of a gatling gun into a dart launcher.

It used a heavy spring which had to be made from Valyrian steel or it would wear out too quickly. I also had to use a separate infinity enchantment on each barrel. Apparently it has a limit on how fast it can generate ammo. Between the spring and the dispenser enchantments the dart launcher was pretty powerful.

Not economical in the slightest though so overall a failure. Still that doesn't keep me from making four of them to replace all of the other weapons on my quadcopter. A bit of a waste of time, but fun.

My second idea ends up taking a trip. I visited Slaver's Bay. My bargain was simple. I needed troops. They will give me all their Unsullied or I'll destroy their cities.

While Astrapor is the only city that trains Unsullied I wanted to weaken all of them. So the others were forced to provide support for Astrapor as part of this agreement. In the end I managed to gain a full five thousand Unsullied.

Once I had command of them I brought them back. I tested a few and confirmed that a health regeneration potion will fix their castration. Thankfully their training and discipline means that they don't act out despite their returned hormones.

I free them and bring them into my army as a new branch. Underwater combat without my powers requires different movements even with an Aqua Affinity enchantment. Spears are ideal for this and the Unsullied are masters with them.

I equip each of them with lightly enchanted leather armor and spears. They also have several potions and other equipment. I give them a thorough orientation and a short trial run. Then I send them all into the sea. I promise to completely restore all that return. They don't cheer, but they march into the water at a much faster pace then usual.

Hopefully they at least buy me time. It's the best I can do since golems stop working underwater and undead just flounder helplessly. Sometimes I'm really tempted to just drain the sea.

My last scheme was an extension of my plan involving the razorwinds not in Westeros. Like Lorassyon I intended to scour most of Essos free of animal life.

The first part was to raid the Nether. Over and over again. Collecting every blaze spawner I can get my hands on. Since I figured out Nether fortresses spawn where settlements are it's pretty easy. I even sneak into Westeros to use the Nether there.

I'm very slightly ashamed to find out the manticoremen are flourishing there. Very slightly.

It's amazing how quickly guilt fades when you catch Aegon giving a speech blaming me for their creation. Bastard.

Then I start seeding them across the land well south of the wall my people are building. I bury them very deep and use travel gates since I don't want to chance them being destroyed even by accident. I mark each location with a large stone and iron tower housing a beacon set to Harm.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Qohor rose up against me. They stated it was in response to my terms but the timing was suspicious. I'm fairly certain it was more opportunistic then that and they felt I would be too distracted to care. Of course they didn't say any of that. Instead they assassinated all my ambassadors and arranged accidents for all the traders from my empire.

I'm not sure how they thought they would get away with it. Between my signal towers, ravens, spie network and scrying division I pull off a fairly terrifying impression of 'big brother'. My troops were moving the same day they started killing my people.

I could have used blazes or any number of other methods, but wanted the people to feel a part of it. The more popular support I enjoy the easier it is to rule. I pulled all the cloud ships together for the assault. I take my quadcoptor since I wanted to use it at least once.

I have no doubt the cloud ships lived up to their name the next day. There were so many giant white balloons in the sky they blotted out the sun. From a distance they made the sky look overcast.

Qohor seemed to panic. People screamed and ran in circles and on every corner it seemed some loon was trying to sacrifice random people to appeal to their god. The warriors trying shooting, but their bows were pathetic. They were reduced to shaking their weapons at the fleet above.

In stark contrast my fleet slowly advanced in perfect silence. The effect was pretty intimidating. Slowly the city below grew quiet, all of them staring and waiting to see what would happen next. I was more than happy to show them and signaled to attack.

The thrum as thousands of windlances all shot simultaneously was deafening. The sound as the bolts crushed the city below was even louder. I was surprised the sounds couldn't be physically felt they were so intense.

I kept watching. As entertaining as the barrage was what I really wanted to see came next. _There_. Dark shapes flitted through air as they descended on the ruin below.

Vexes. One of the creatures summonable through shadowbinding, but requiring a sacrifice. Unlike in the story you don't have to birth one. Sacrificing a baby also works. Recently however I had found a work around.

It was the manticoremen that inspired me. Insect based beastmen were the problem, but maybe they can also be the solution. The main problem of spreading the types of magic I know are most of it requires sacrifices. Human ones at that.

While I don't mind killing anyone I consider an enemy, cold-bloodily slaughtering thousands of people production line style was a bit much. However I have no problem performing to same ritual using eggs.

So a bit a testing and soon enough the first ant beastman queen was born. She grew fast and soon enough was producing a constant source of sacrifices. More than enough to magically equip all of my troops and then some.

The eggs also allowed me to really experiment with some of the magic I had avoided until now. An egg was perfectly capable of serving as an incubation chamber for growing a shadowbinding summons. Vexes, enderman and more could easily be created that way. Even better, combining shadowbinding with the warlock arts allowed the egg to be turned into a tattoo.

Instead of a bright blue the tattoo was a dark purple and only glowed when used. Since it was the color I was using to represent me I had restricted it a new military order. Along with the Warging Helmets they became the symbol of my Shamans.

That word is meaningless here, but I felt it was appropriate. They bond with animals and can summon spirits or at least a close approximation. What more is there?

With their powers they were perfectly suited to serving as scouts and skirmishers. Not to mention that summoning was incredibly draining. Thanks to the tattoos it no longer shortens the summoner's lifespan, but aren't could someone handle summoning more than one creature and still fight.

It was paying off now. Since they had no need to risk themselves it seems most of the sentinels had summoned a second vex. It was good call. They wouldn't be capable of much besides pacing or meditation, but on a ship that was perfectly fine.

I'd have liked to send more, but this is the first real test of them and all of them are based off my natural wargs. At least the ones willing to sign up for military service. I couldn't really justify creating more until I know whether it was worth it. I more than made up for it though.

Since I don't feel fatigue I didn't seem to have a limit. My tattoos were almost blinding in intensity when I activated them and allowed me to summon thousands of vexes. A tornado of wings surrounds me as my vexes spread out.

A small army of birds and vexes scour the city for survivors. With their ability to pass through walls no place was safe from the vexes. Guided by the possessed birds they made sure there weren't any survivors.

We stay for several hours to be thorough. Periodically the fleet bombards the city again, smashing the ruins ever flatter. The Firestorm swings be at the end to bathe what's left in fire.

I no longer aim to conquer my enemies. Instead I plan to exterminate all of them.


	27. Railroad

Chapter 27 Railroad

Less then a thousand Unsullied returned. Worse they reported that the sea floor hosted an entire city instead of just an ocean monument. They had destroyed one and damaged another, but there was at least one more they had seen.

They had only retreated once they had started running out of potions. Given the numbers they had faced I was impressed any of them had survived at all. Apparently they had scavenged additional potions from their fallen. Resourceful and exactly the kind of initiative that I want.

Despite their 'failure' I consider the expedition successful. The enemy was damaged, I gained valuable information and best of all I now have more veterans. I restored all of them and placed them in charge of my newest military branch.

Marines were to be my naval troops. They would serve as guards on ships, be capable of aquatic assault and of course, serve as my first line of defense against Deep Ones. Best of all I have the perfect branch of magic for them.

Initially I had wanted to use the same tattoos I used for the shamans. Maybe even have them be a single extended organization. Turns out that wasn't possible. The creatures made through shadowbinding all react badly towards water. Not only can they not pass through it, even touching it damages them. Worse all forms of water count. Which makes me wonder if there's a connection to the Wall being made from ice?

Nature magic of course didn't have this problem. And since they were marines, it was logical too go with water. Water magic was something I had been studying with the children of the forest for some time now. Ever since I heard about the Hammer of Water ritual I had wanted to learn it. I had been progressing slowly though. My powers hadn't given my a shortcut although I could feel it was possible. It was like something was missing.

Recently I found it. Some of expeditions for information had been the ruined cities of the lost Rhoynar empire. The fragments of information hadn't amounted to anything at the time although they hinted at things that sounded fascinating. When my spies had found that some of the Rhoynar survived I had them start looking for them.

They ended up in Dorne of all places. Better yet they survived and had managed to keep much of their history and lore intact. Calling themselves the Orphans of the Greenblood River, they lived their entire lives on small barges.

It didn't take much to get them to agree to join my empire. The offer of supplies and the restoration of a few of their cities was more than enough. They were more than happy to share the information they had preserved in exchange.

Their scrolls had provided me what I needed. The structure was a moonwell, Basically a large cauldron or shallow pool made from prismarine and diamond. It was the structure I needed to access water magic. The name actually made me wonder if the moonsingers from the Jogos Nhai might have already known about this branch of magic.

The rituals, like pretty much every other type of magic, could be individually inscribed as intricate glowing tattoos. The tattoos glowed a soft aquamarine, the same color as prismarine blocks. Surprisingly the rituals didn't just deal with water. They covered poisons, diseases and flesh crafting. I guess I now know where Valyria had learned it.

The spells I tattoo on my marines were much more straightforward. They allowed them to wield water. It drained energy, but not at a fixed rate. The amount of water, the distance from the wielder and how much water all factored in. Since my marines were going to be operating very close or even within water it was perfect for them.

Techniques to armor themselves, enhance cutting edges or extend them and a variety of other techniques were all tattooed onto them. As fitting for a fluid based magic system the rituals were very flexible. I borrowed heavily from what I remembered from anime such as Avatar and Naruto for ideas.

With the new branch set up and organized I needed a place for them to train. The facility I set up was where Braavos used to be located. The enclosed bay there was plenty deep enough and quickly set up a mock up of an ocean monument based off the information my marines gave me. Partly because of the monument and partly because the word doesn't seem to exist at all I name the rebuilt city Oceanus.

Assembling it was a chore and much more involved than I thought it would be. Sliding walls, traps door and just traps were everywhere. It was clear to me just how much I had avoided by deciding to mine through the ceiling. The Unsullied hadn't had that option had made their way through the hard way.

It was very good training though. Not only did I set up two false ocean monuments, complete with appropriate spawners, I built several other training areas. Things such as beach defenses and fortified docks. My empire was still primarily a sea power. If possible I wanted at least half my sailors to eventually undergo at least some training here.

The former Unsullied were already hard at work, training themselves and testing the facilities. They were almost fanatical to prove themselves worthy of being founding members of my marines.

I also built elaborate defenses around the area. Instead of trees being used as camouflage and a wind break I had an enormous wall, bristling with siege weapons. The defenses went both ways. I had no intention of allowing anything from the spawners to escape and cause me problems later on.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

As much as I disliked it, I was forced to largely abandon my projects. Since my empire was so spread out the military had all it could handle trying to defend it all. I could make quick attacks, but no extended campaigns. So I was forced to go myself.

I supposed I was lucky there were so few new volunteers needing tattoos. Practically everyone not already enlisted are too vital to the running of their households to spare. Which meant I could use all the eggs being generated on myself.

Not that I really needed more vexes. I could already summon close to three thousand of them. Still more of them couldn't hurt. If nothing else it'd make fights shorter. Of course I didn't have enough eggs to raise it instantly, so I was forced to make frequent trips back.

At least traveling didn't take too long since I was using my quadcopter. A few hundred at a time I steadily increased how many vexes I could summon. I figure eventually I'll be able to blanket the entire sky by myself.

I was more of a force of nature than an army. I'd swoop in, summon vexes and wait for them to kill everything. Sometimes I'd take pot shots just to relieve the boredom. Then off to the next location.

It was so very boring. I hated it. This is why I had armies!

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

As I conduct my raids I note that the blazes have a mixed effect. Because they're essentially mindless they just to wander aimlessly. They do tend to stay near the towers they spawn at and keep manticoremen well clear of them. The towers aren't nearly plentiful enough to really stop them though. They're just thinning their numbers. At most they're managed to slow down the swarm.

It was during one of my flights that I had an epiphany. The sheer tedium of it all had my mind furiously brainstorming for any way I can get out of what I was doing. Sure it would all make an epic ballad in the future, but a few dramatic fights more than covered that.

Not that there are many bards currently in existence. It seems with the constant threats patriotism has swept my empire and any position that seems too frivolous and doesn't contribute to the war effort is looked down upon.

My epiphany is that there _is_ a source of manpower available. More importantly it was available now. That part is infinitely more valuable than any number of future Unsullied. Looks like I'm heading back to Slaver's Bay.

I take all of my marines along with plenty of automatic wagons. I wanted to make sure I can bring back everyone who wants to come. Above us were a half dozen zeppelins equipped only with several water generators. I brought a few hundred samurai as well. All of whom had been former slaves. I wanted plenty of motivation for my troops and they'll make a much better impression when I take each city.

Meereen was easy enough. I marched right up to the gate and waited. The zeppelins poured an endless stream of water onto the walls, washing away any guards. My marines started activating their tattoos and several swam through the water to go over the walls.

Once inside the water turned the try dusty ground into mud where it didn't outright flood. My men had no trouble with it and easily defeated any soldiers they came across. Not that there were many. Questioning revealed most had been sent to Astrapor to be turned into Unsullied.

I wasted no time freeing every slave there and giving them the choice of joining me. Many didn't believe me when I described how the world had changed, but the majority still joined.

That was the end of my trip though. I thought I had prepared. I had vastly underestimated how many slaves were in Meereen. A hundred thousand slaves. It was an impossible amount. I had transportation for a fifth of that.

Still, I wasn't about to leave any of them. I had been complaining about lack of manpower before. There was no way I was turning anyone away now.

I fly back to Sarnor to organize help. There was no way I was going to wait the months it would take for them to walk anywhere. I had entire rooms full of crates, each full of stockpiled supplies. I had been drawing from it quite a bit recently, but I have the feeling I may end up emptying it for this.

I come up with several ideas but the one I settle on was to build a train. A large factor was that I was going to have to do this two more times. I really don't want to be forced to deal with this problem more than once.

The train is easy enough. Lay two sets of minecraft rails side by side and I have my tracks. A cart is easy enough to into a platform car with four sets of wheels and still small enough to give me a recipe. I considered a steam engine, but after testing settled on the same powered track engine I used in my quadcopter. It was just so much more efficient for it's size.

I then joined several of my platforms to form the box cars I remember from my past. It meant I had to be careful when laying the tracks to only gradually turn, but it was worth it. The sight amazed my people though, how insisted on calling it an iron wyrm. Then I had to lay more than one set of tracks since I was building a transport loop.

I built a station in the former city of Sarnath. Power rails helped immensely in getting started or slowing down but were too valuable too use everywhere. The gold alone would tempt too many. So a fortified hub and engines. A city is much easier to guard then hundreds of kilometers worth of track.

I fully intended to turn it into a railroad hub. thought it would be ironic to have my iron wyrms all travel to and from what the Dothraki had named the city of worms.

The sarnori were ecstatic at what I was doing and transferred there in droves to help out. While the rest of my people didn't have the same history, they still appreciated what I was doing against Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki. Neither were popular. Not that I blame them.

I really don't like the Dothraki. Even now, with their capital destroyed and their clans shattered, they're causing me problems. The vast majority of the bandits are Dothraki. They don't even try to join. The very few who do don't integrate and quickly end up executed.

Slowly, a few hundred at a time my iron wyrms shipped everyone north. As I built more iron wyrms to travel the loop the rate sped up considerably. I was incredibly grateful for my wheat farms since I was passing out literally tons of bread to keep them all fed.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

One thing I did notice when laying down the railroad tracks was manticoremen. There weren't many, but the fact that there were any meant they were still spreading rapidly. I had really hoped my efforts had slowed that down more.

If I'm ever to be safe from them I'm going to need to keep them contained until I can destroy them all. It'd be pointless to wipe them out here only to face another swarm in a few years coming from the far east. I'm just lucky the Dothraki sea is so empty right now or I have no doubt they would have overrun the entire area already.

In the end I poison the land. It feels a bit wrong to spread ghost grass everywhere. The softly glowing reed looks beautiful, but it's poisonous to absolutely everything. Even other plants can't grow nearby. Between that and the Red Wastes any manticoremen that try to go further will hopefully starve to death.

Hopefully the Lhazareen and Ghiscari people survive, but I doubt it. Not really my problem though. I have no doubt the Lhazareen will get eaten. They're entire culture turns them into pacifists, which sounds suicidal to me. I'm honestly surprised they're even still around.

They might be willing to join, but I'm not willing to take them. What good is taking them in if I'm getting any more soldiers out of it? I don't need more things to protect when my empire is already in danger. And as for Ghiscar, they practices slavery. If I do go there it'll be to crush them and free their slaves.

Of course I didn't just build one railroad.

As soon as the first iron wyrm delivered it's load of passengers I was flooded with requests to build more. I understood the appeal but wasn't about to just give up control of it anytime soon. The iron wyrms were going to be strictly reserved for military use until the manticoremen threat had been dealt with.

Towards that end I had bullied nearly a third of the slaves I'd freed into volunteering for military service. I now have more people in training than exists in my military. I only hope enough of them pass.

It seems my aquatic problems will continue for now. Very few of the former slaves wanted to be marines. Even with being freed by them most of them seemed nervous around water. At least my new Rhoynari seem eager to join that branch.

I do extend a few new rail lines, but they're all set to travel near the defensive line. I did extend one to both Oceanus and Mardosh as they were two of my largest military areas. The line to Oceanus I ended up extending a touch to pass through the ruins of Norvos. While Daenerys had wiped the people out, the city itself was mostly intact.

I even thought about setting up my samurai training facilities there. I wanted them to have a city of their own. In the end I wanted them to have a much more isolated and secure area to call their own. I'll likely end up using Norvos as another railroad hub eventually.

I place it on the island of Ib. While I planned on leaving it largely to the giants I can't afford that luxury anymore. The facilities are rapidly expanding since I can't seem to find a way to move my End portal or even build a second one. Then they're done they'll likely span much of the island if only for the variety in terrain.

While the facilities will likely take years to finish they recruits are still very busy. Clearing out any remaining golems and ibbish serves both as training and gives them valuable experience. The giants are also all being rounded up by them to be shipped over to Lorath and then to the End.

Ever since I started my operation to harvest dragons in the End one of the byproducts has been a massive amount of endstone. Without any other instructions my golems had been busy storing all of it. I hadn't found it out until I emptied most of the stores building zeppelins and didn't have any idea of what to do with it until now.

I was expanding. The endstone was being used to rapidly fill in the small sea currently surrounding the central island. Given just how much I had stored, by the time I used it all up I'll probably have an island that can match Ib in size.

Strategic placement of pillars of magma and glowstone keeps my new land from being too inhospitable. I'm not just letting the giants loose though. I really need skulls quickly so I have housing and facilities being erected for all of them.

Between the abundance of food and my own experiments I fully intend for there to be a massive population explosion. I've divided the giants into groups so I can test my ideas out. I have to be very careful since I know it's very easy to render them unusable for golem creation.


	28. Unexpected Allies

Chapter 28 Unexpected Allies

I had barely finished transporting all of the freed slaves from Meereen settled when I received a delegation from Lhazar. I expected them wanting to join. I did not expect them to volunteer for military duty.

Really? It sometimes seems like every tiny village has it's own magic users. And that they all spy on each other. This is ridiculous.

Still my annoyance wasn't enough to throw them out. I did point out how many times my empire has come under attack and why I didn't feel the need to shelter a bunch of pacifists.

Their response was surprising. It also confirmed they were spying on me with magic. They are pacifists. Sort of. Culturally they just aren't aggressive. So they proposed training as shamans.

I of course accepted. The shamans are definitely one of my smaller branches. Most people just seemed to dislike warging on principle. They also seemed to dislike sitting back and meditating while summoned creatures earned the glory they signed up for.

Thinking about it the Lhazareen seemed perfect. If even a fraction of the lhazareen pass training it will easily match if not surpass my samurai in size. I of course accepted. Now I feel a little bad about writing them off so quickly.

I quickly extended a new rail line into Lhazar, but the problem was how dispersed they were. They only had three cities and even they were on the small side. Most of them were scattered across dozens of much smaller towns.

Another benefit was that they brought me the news that Qarth was rebuilding. Seeing as I had destroyed the city I was a bit surprised by that. Qarth it seems, wasn't a single city. It was a small country with at least three major cities. I had only destroyed the capital.

I quickly added Qarth to the list of placed to be monitored by my scrying division and it was mixed news. The other two cities were pouring everything into rebuilding their capital. They were greatly aided by the masses of undead beastmen they were using. All controlled by numerous warlocks. And the people were being fed a constant stream of propaganda painting me as pure evil.

So it looks like I have another enemy or an enemy has returned. On the other hand they have undead walking around in the daylight. Maybe I can steal that knowledge from them somehow.

I was settling the Lhazareen just south of Ib. There were dense woods and rich grasslands there. Since I had already scattered ghost grass everywhere I passed out barrels of valyrian steel hoes. Can't have my new subjects starving now.

The Lhazareen it seemed were more comfortable in small villages. They had only formed cities to hide from the dothraki. Even the towns were caused by people moving from destroyed villages. Once safe, they wasted no time in scattering into hundreds of tiny villages.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It was while the Lhazareen were setting up their new villages that they discovered something incredibly valuable. Bones. Massive humanoid bones dwarfing anything I've seen before.

The skeletons belonged to a race of giants I hadn't seen before. They stood about thirty feet tall, which is easily twice as tall as the giants I had. A bit of research labeled them as the Jhogwin, which I had actually taken as myths.

I should have known better. It seems every myth here is based at least partially on fact. And all too many of them are returning. I just need to make sure they're on my side.

I wanted them. I can already imagine the enormous golems I could create from them. I post large bounties for any skeleton they find and have them all shipped back to Lorath. I dive into my research and scrap half my projects involving giants for this.

The Jhogwin seemed tailor made for my powers. Their skulls were so large they were at the very limit of what I could store in my Inventory, but never passed it. It unlocked a new golem recipe which I immediately tested.

The new golem was forty feet tall and took hundreds of blocks to construct. It was worth it though. It was just as strong as it was large. A giant zombie was easily crushed with a single blow. It then went on to kill a giant armored golem and then an ender dragon. It was fairly damaged by that point, but I was very satisfied.

This changed things. Given decent armor my new golem, named Jotun, would be unstoppable. Even better, it's armor would be thick enough to shrug off light siege weapons and make it immune to manticoremen.

It was a very slow process. I had to incorporate small chunks of Jhogwin essence into each generation of giant in order to gradually increase their size. Any more and the mother would die during child birth. Still it was working.

During this time my empire settled down and got used to all the new settlers. I had strained it a bit with the influx of so many people, but their eagerness to make a new and better life kept tensions within reasonable limits.

I was glad to see everything working out since it allowed me to concentrate on my projects. I still didn't have an answer to the manticoremen, but at least the completion of my wall meant I no longer needed to fly out myself.

It was probably due to my sudden interest in the Jhogwin skeletons that I was approached. Several of the marines in Oceanus brought an entire ship of exotic skeletons. I almost missed their explanation when I saw one of them.

It was a deinonychus, the dinosaur the velociraptors from Jurassic Park were based on. There were dinosaurs here.

I thanked and rewarded them in a daze. Dinosaurs. That's crazy. And awesome. I need to send an expedition there.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I check and see the manticoremen seem pretty entrenched in Westeros. They haven't spread too far yet, but already parts of King's Landing are overrun. The capital has turned into a warzone. Looks like I don't have to worry about Westeros any time soon.

At least one area isn't causing me problems. Too bad I can't say the same for the sea. The Deep Ones have stepped up their attacks recently, going to far as to assault coastal villages. The defenses have held in most cases and losses were minimal. The inconvenience and fear the attacks engender are the real problem.

Everyone is demanding more defenses. They are often diverting production towards local defenses and are holding back the air ships and weapons made for personal use. Soldiers are also requesting to return home in greater numbers then ever. And my marines are far from ready.

I don't fight it. There isn't any point. I do need to deal with the issue. Not to say I just sit back. No I actively help the push for local defenses. Of course I make sure I'm in charge of the process.

Air ships still go to my fleet, but in return a few are stationed to protect each village. Since I'm the one arming the zeppelins there isn't much argument with that. I station small garrisons and build more elaborate fortifications. My entire empire is bunkering up.

While extensive and expensive, the process was most of all time consuming. With so much production diverted I can't mount any offenses. I now have to wait for at least the newest generation of recruits to graduate if I don't want to return to attacking by myself.

Instead of that I started expanding my empire deeper inland. I extended my railroads and made dozens of iron wyrms. My council arranged schedules to allow civilian use even as I laid down more and more lines.

Not only did this increase trade and productivity, the new railroads had the benefit of finally convincing Omber to sign up. The Kingdom of Omber had been very wary of my empire even as I expanded all around it. The few times one of the nobles there had attacked me I immediately responded. Well, it was more like raiding. I still destroyed them and seized all their lands.

Now they were eager to join up and take advantage of the trade opportunities. Or at least most of them were. Enough that I felt justified in scheduling the conquest of the resisting nobles as training exercises for the recruits. Need to make sure they're blooded after all.

Offering trade meant I needed to extend my trading partners. Pentos already had a new railroad. Now I started pushing my railroads further east.

Trading with Yi Ti has always been a lucrative endeavor before and I can always use more allies. Besides my scrying revealed that they're protected by thousand foot stone walls. If I'm lucky they'll have a new branch of magic for me to learn.

I didn't make it to Yi Ti. When I extended the line from Lhazar I had to pass through the Bone Mountains. The only pass there was guarded by Bayasabhad, one of the three cities in the Patrimony of Hyrkoon.

I had expected attacks and raids until I was forced to destroy them. I did not expect a welcoming committee. I had left them alive in the hopes that eventually the fanatics would die out and I could trade with them. I figured it would take a few generations, but would eventually work out.

That plan hinged on the fact that I had already killed the majority of the fanatics. It turns out they're all fanatics. I just killed off the ones that supported Viserys. Taking this as proof of my divinity, along with my demonstrations previously, the remaining populace had apparently converted to me.

I of course accepted. No way was I going to pass up new willing territories. They don't really have much to trade, but location is often as important as natural resources. And to me they have the most important resource of all. People.

Caught between the Dothraki and the Jogos Nhai they evolved into a fierce martial culture that literally bred warriors. I had crushed their standing armies, but the next generations were already training hard to replace them. It helped that the Dothraki were shattered and no longer a problem.

Seeing the women training gave me an idea. The hot climate had lent itself towards wearing little to no armor and they were no exception. The custom of baring their chest to reveal their piercings also supported that habit. They also trained primarily with long polearms and javelins to better combat light cavalry.

The only reason they don't have cavalry of their own was horses took too much land to raise. With my aid that can easily be gotten around though. However, instead of riding horses I wanted them to ride my winged drakes.

The drakes had not been nearly as successful as I had hoped. Sure they worked well and a few people used them, but overall they were thought of as status symbols. Their limited carrying capacity limited their use, especially after the zeppelins started becoming widespread. Charioteers also vastly preferred my golems and if not available still used horses simply for logistical reasons.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It took a week to arrange. I shipped down several winged drakes along with parachutes and new weapons. In particular I brought a specially designed saddle for the drake that was equipped with a chain crossbow.

As expected from people as devoted as they were, they loved it. They wasted no time throwing themselves into training and competed fiercely to be the first to receive mounts. I'd like to think they'd be just as enthusiastic over the drakes even if I wasn't the one presenting them since I also brought the means to feed them.

Like I did for Dragonstone I built them an extensive underground farm. Most of it was devoted to soybeans since I wanted the drakes to flourish here. Soybeans ironically enough came from Yi Ti and could easily be used for the bulk of their diet. Combined with all the other crops I brought and I solved not only the drakes food supply issue, but the people's as well.

I check on the other two cities in the Patrimony and they welcome me just as enthusiastically. I pour a lot more resources into building the cities up than I had initially planned. I figure between the three cities I now have an actual eastern border and I wanted it secure.

I never did extend the railroads past the cities. It just didn't seem right to have them go past them. Instead I extended a rail line between the three cities. Besides Yi Ti wasn't even an ally yet and I doubt they would appreciate me building a rail right up to their walls.

Which turned out to be a good thing. Merchants and scouts were already bringing back word that Yi Ti was in the middle of a civil war. They had an Orange Emperor and Azure Emperor, both controlling most of the territory immediately past the Patrimony. They're also both also fighting the Jogos Nhai, which is good for me since it means I'm unlikely to be threatened from that direction.

I'd ignore the east entirely if not for the rumors of a Bonetown further east that trades ancient unrecognizable bones. I'm aiming to convert the Patrimony into a fortified borders and trading hubs. They were already partially inclined that way due to the Valyrian roads. The new railroads would speed that up.

To really push them along I constructed a massive set of air docks. Zeppelins would make surveying and patrolling much easier on the cities. They are also unlikely to be used too heavily since the cities are so heavily inclined towards military service. But the docks aren't for them.

With all the possible new resources out there I expect a fairly steady stream of merchants. While the majority of airships are being sent to the royal fleet I know people. Some are going to keep some for themselves. And why not? With how easy I made it to build them I actually expect it. There's no point trying to control a new technology after it's spread past a certain point. So I'm planning for the future.

Still even the docks didn't take that long to set up. So after matters had gotten settled I returned back to Lorath and my projects.

I likely left behind an entire generation of Targaryen blooded babies. I suppose it made sense. Their entire culture revolved around breeding the best males and who was better than their actual hero reborn?

I didn't mind. It strengthened ties between us and didn't pose a problem. The oldest of my sons was already fifteen and none of my children so far had exhibited any signs of my power. None of them had exhibited signs of insanity either. Seems a fair trade off to me. Let's just hope the trend continues.

Besides it was fun. I didn't really think of myself as a hedonist, but I can definitely see the appeal. Once my empire is safe I might retire here. Ruling the planet sounds like a terrible hassle. I already have enough problems just with my empire.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

My retirement plans were aided greatly by the inclusion of the Patrimony. I was slowly restructuring my government into a sort of democracy. With how fast the empire was growing and how easily I handed out titles for various feats nobility was becoming almost commonplace.

No, I wanted everyone to have a vote. At least everyone who I didn't feel was worthless. I was not about to let just anyone have a say. My requirements were simple. Serve in one of my military branches. As soon as you completed training you could vote.

The Patrimony helped because until then I was having trouble setting it up so women could vote. Sure Sarnori women fought, but only besides their husbands they the head of their households. Since they were always male, they just treated it like having two votes. With the inclusion of an entire military branch comprised solely of women I was able to force the change through much easier.

I was pretty glad the Patrimony was so fanatical given the fallout. Most of the rest of the empire was pretty upset about the forced castrations. I wasn't too happy about it myself. Golems, undead and former slaves replaced most of those positions fairly quickly. It turns out they didn't even mind once I explained my plan for their breeding program.

The idea of an empire wide set of Olympic style games to net them the best candidates for Great Fathers was greeted with enthusiasm. They already understood the basics of breeding so my reasoning made perfect sense to them.

Of course I wouldn't feel right retiring while I still had active enemies. It's just too bad that I seem to keep finding new ones. Once again it was the Lhazareen who brought word to be first. One of the best decisions I ever made to let them join.

Ghis had risen once again.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The Old Empire of Ghis was the equivalent to Earth's Greece. Free land owners who trained in phalanx formations, although they called them lock step legions here. The Unsullied were actually an attempt to copy the success of those legions.

Of course they cut too many corners there. Using drugged slaves instead of warriors and leather armor instead of much more expensive steel. Still what they did produce was decent.

Of course New Ghis still kept the old training methods. Worse they were highly militant and had at least seven full legions. Since a legion was a bit over six thousand troops that was over forty thousand soldiers.

It wouldn't matter accept New Ghis had allied with both Yunkai and Astrapor and were now actively training both Unsullied along with more of the original legionnaires. It looks like they were aiming to at least double the number of active legions. I admit the offer to free any slave that completed training and served in the legions was inspired. I really hate smart enemies.

Worse they hadn't stopped there. They allied with Qarth and Lys. Troops from both were steadily massing around the ruins of Meereen, which was being rebuilt. They already seemed to have conquered what was left of Lhazar.

Thanks to them they're also training up enormous numbers of beastmen Unsulllied. I'm beginning to regret ever discovering that ritual.

At least Westeros wasn't supporting them. Between the zeppelins I sent and the manticoremen all the kingdoms are falling apart. In fact King's Landing has already fallen.

Maybe it's time to retake Dragonstone?


	29. Westeros

Chapter 29 Westeros

I may have overestimated Westeros. I expected at least Dorne to last longer than that. They had natural defenses in the form of deserts and they had a fairly large army as well. It's pretty disturbing to scry over there and see enormous swarms almost everywhere I look. At least I already got the Orphans.

Only the North seems to be still intact. Even they are hard pressed through, slowly being pushed out of the Neck. It's only a matter of time for the North though. With the enormous numbers they are generating from the other kingdoms they'll eventually overwhelm them. Of course the cold might stop them. Maybe I should look forward to the fact the Long Night is so close?

It's not like it'll be that bad for me. Examples of my power are spread quick thickly across my empire. Aside from air I could probably maintain their current living conditions even on the moon.

Of course the Wall is still up. Along with all of my defenses. And the zeppelins. But only two. And Icestorm probably doesn't count against white walkers.

I think about recalling them but end up making my way over instead. I recall all of the razorwinds there too. The kingdoms are already falling, their job is done.

I'm not actually sure whether the former tunnels through the Wall are vulnerable or not so I have a plan. I construct large stone castles at each of the seventeen former tunnels. The castles are fairly compact but extend upwards, using the Wall the provide support for it's structure.

I say castle, but it's more a series of elaborate defenses. There are no doors or windows, just arrow slits and murderholes. The core of the castle was an enormous keep, three hundred feet high placed right in front of where the tunnel used to be.

A massive pair of wood gates were set up in front to draw the enemies attention. They weren't actual doors, but were just set into the solid base of the keep. The space in front of it was a killzone with most of the turrets I stripped from the razorwinds able to shoot into it.

I wrap a series of walls filled with skeleton archers around the area about a hundred feet out. They stood a hundred feet, eighty feet and fifty feet high respectively. A moat filled with magma was placed in front of each wall.

I would have kept going, but ran out of advanced golems. Without them to do all the repetitive work I lost interest in the castles pretty quickly. Instead I started refitting the former razorwinds.

I modified the flamethrowers I used in my land cruisers for them. I stripped out most of it, including the pumps. I concentrated on the fuel generator. I expanded what I could and duplicated what I couldn't. For what I was planning I needed a lot more fuel than the flamethrower had ever used.

The result was much larger than I liked. In fact it was so massive that a zeppelin could barely carry it. Good thing that was enough. With my invention the new zeppelins could now pour streams of napalm directly beneath them.

I wanted more than just napalm, but sadly Wildfire really does use magic in the brewing process. I found the recipe in the ruins of King's Landing along with a host of other materials. Sadly the knowledge the Citadel contained pales in comparison to what I still remembered from my first life. I still transported the books back. If nothing else it's that much less I need to write down.

Aside from looting the Citadel and parts of the palace I avoided King's Landing. The books and show both mentioned how badly the place smelled. I thought I had a handle on foul smelling places after living on Planetos for so many years. I was clearly wrong.

It was horrendous. I felt stained just from breathing. I was more than happy to use my new zeppelin's to burn it to the ground. Sadly I was stuck and didn't manage to think of a name for them before I sent them off to the Iron Islands.

It turns out the Iron Islands are actually the most densely populated kingdom currently. Ironically it seems Aegon retreated there then King's Landing fell. Thinking about it, it was the only area safe both from the manticoremen and my razorwinds. I gleefully anticipate his reaction to my new Napalm-class air ships attacking him. After all he's the idiot who declared himself my enemy now. It would be rude to ignore him.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

When I finally do leave Westeros it's only temporarily. In honor of the one place that openly welcomed me without a slaughter I move my capital to Dragonstone. I strip most of Lorassyon and even relocate the End Portal. The end is pretty much restricted to my personal experiments now.

I am finally starting to delegate as well. The oldest of my children are still in the military, but my armed forces are getting bogged down with trite domestic matters. Setting up police forces and governing bodies was vital.

Still, Dhagon has thrown himself into the task of securing what used to be King's Landing. Turns out he doesn't want to settle down and govern a territory I gift him. He wants to prove himself by forging his own domain. He has my full support. Well at least as much as I can spare. At least he isn't craven.

I made it mandatory for any governor to have actual military service. That included my own family. Too many times in history rulers became detached from normal life. They also tend to go soft and hedonistic. I really, really want to try and prevent that. Or at least limit it as much as possible.

Lorassyon is converted into the new giant refuge. I worked hard to restore their race and don't see a point in wiping them out. It's more than large enough for the remaining few dozen I left. Since they were larger than the previous race I had to modify the labyrinth. Instead of five levels, they only had three. Each was very spacious enough, which should prevent claustrophobia.

I wanted to place a few of the giants back in the north and maybe skagos but the days are getting colder and storms are getting common in that area. I have no doubt that the long night is coming. No sense giving the Night King more troops.

Back in Essos things are progressing nicely. My defensive measures are proving successful and the borders are secure. To keep my troops from stagnating I'm actually expanding.

It's very slow going. The troops clear out an area and then builders and golems follow behind and build fortifications. New troops cycle forward and it repeats. The were helped by the giant golems I deployed to the front. Since I was replacing the giants I had previously made, I harvested most of them.

The giant golems were heavily armored and great help in pushing forward. Still not enough for large scale deployments, but perfect for this. If it continues long enough eventually the southern half of Essos will look like a honeycomb from above.

It won't though. Too many enemies still. Deep Ones raiding, the remains of Westeros, the mess with the Yi Ti empire. It's probably my fault somehow that the civil war has escalated so far. I'm pretty sure that in the books they didn't field insanely large mummified creatures against each other.

Seeing multiple places fielding undead during the day is really annoying. I really can't figure out what I'm missing that keeps me from doing the same.

And then of course there is Ghis. The new empire is rapidly becoming a problem. I had hoped the manticoremen would weaken them. That wasn't working at all.

I also may have helped them out with the seeding ghost grass everywhere. With how it drives out almost everything else the manticoremen have less to feed on. Smaller numbers means the legions have a much easier time defending their territory. Worse, smaller villages and even bandits do fall so everyone is flocking to the protection offered by the legions.

Not only has Meereen been rebuilt all of the former territory from Lhazar has been incorporated into the Ghis Empire. Worse they came up with a very clever tactical decision. They created a creature that feeds exclusively on ghost grass.

The creature, which I fully intend to copy, resembled a highly modified goat. It has long silky fur, ivory horns and breeds quickly by laying clutches of large leathery eggs. I'm actually very impressed. The problem is the goats aren't really being used to feed their people. Instead they're being used to raise beastmen and worse, manticoremen.

Metal has always been a problem in primitive societies. Many armies in Essos still used copper weapons. Those included the Unsullied. It's one of the reasons I hadn't really worried about Ghis. That was no longer the case. Harvesting the parts from the manticoremen they weren't having any problems equipping every soldier. I really hate smart enemies.

The ghost grass also seems to be converting the Red Wastes. The former desert is quickly being converted into prairie by the plant I carelessly scattered across the continent. Qarth is already expanding north and with my luck will end up joining forces with Ghis.

Still, even combined I should be able to handle them easily enough. Sheer numbers won't be enough. It will still take at least a year or two before they can march against me. Even ignoring my military branches I'll have at least a dozen or so more land cruisers finished by that time. I make a note to reinforce Bayasabhad. I don't need them contacting Yi Ti and getting their own gigantic war beasts.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

While I did send reinforcements and supplies down to Bayasabhad, I realized I was approaching the situation from the wrong angle. Yi Ti was currently in a civil war. That meant there were two sides and at least one of them might be willing to ally with me.

I approached the Orange Emperor first. He was a former general attempting to conquer his country so was much more likely to be willing to deal with a foreign power. It also helped that he was already losing. He just didn't have to infrastructure to continuously produce the giant war beasts that the Azure Emperor did.

The deal we struck was tentative and no doubt he felt that he had thoroughly ripped me off. I only received a single maegi, even if a high ranking one, and he would train a single apprentice for five years. I doubt they intended to teach the apprentice too much.

None of that mattered though when I saw him set up. A large gold incense burner that looked a bit like a miniature temple was central to his set up. It was placed right next to a very elaborately decorated sacrificial altar. One touch and a new recipe was unlocked.

The magic system was odd. It was built around animation. Much like the golem crafting rules in fact but more detailed. In fact it most resembled building a character for a game. Still, I got what I wanted from it.

Husks weren't true undead. They were animated bodies that just happened to be made from flesh. Puppets would have worked just as well. Pretty anticlimatic to be honest. Even the war beasts were a let down. They weren't undead either. Just more puppets. Giant and very detailed but still puppets.

At least it gave me options. While no where near as powerful as the power rail turbines I invented, animated constructs could be much much smaller. It could easily be enough to kick of a magitech version of the industrial revolution. I just need to start training more people.

Looks like I'm going to be creating a new military branch. Sadly my Artificers will have to wait at least a generation. Almost everyone who can be spared for military service is already training in one of the branches already.

I kept my end of the bargain. I promptly shipped him all the supplies we had agreed upon. I was fairly certain he was going to piss me off eventually and would end up conquering Yi Ti in a few years however. Still, the fewer enemies I had to fight right now the better.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Time seems to have slowed to a crawl.

It's not that I have nothing to occupy myself with. It's what fills my time that eats at me. Almost none of it is used to actually rule my empire. I have fairly competent ministers and governors in place and everyone knows they're in danger. Only the idiots are still maneuvering and they're getting executed as fast as I can find them.

Since every branch of my military is dependent on equipment only I can create I'm stuck crafting and enchanting all day. Tactically it makes sense. No one can raise an army against me in secret, but getting everything started is exhausting. Even using the End I'm barely keeping up.

My family occupies most of what is left. I don't take them into the End with me often, reserving it for special occasions like namedays. I try to teach them what I can, supplementing what the learn from their tutors. I want them to know how to rule well after all.

Often I have an audience silently hanging around to learn as well, although they know better that to interrupt my time with my family.

I devote any leftover snatches of time to slowly progressing with my newest project. Seeing as how it looked like Ghis or Yi Ti may be my next threat I developed two new land cruisers. The first I named the Arc Hammer.

It was fairly massive being sixty feet long and forty feet wide. It was much lower since it mounted an elaborate pair of perriers on top.

The Arc Hammer was designed to serve as artillery so the perriers were enlarged until they resembled trebuchets. They were also made from valyrian steel and crewed by golems. Between animation charms and the golems it could easily out range a normal trebuchet. Extra large quivers provided the solid iron rods that served as it's ammunition.

Probably influenced by preconceived notions of what constitutes an artillery battery I almost built six of them. Thankfully I realize how over the top that was and stopped with two. Considering each Arc Hammer mounted a miniature arrow storm ball turret on each side I doubt I'll ever need to deploy together. Even though I did skimp a bit on the armor, the four sets of tracks means it's faster than most of the other designs.

My next project went in the opposite direction. It was meant specifically to be deployed in large groups. It was a combination of my land cruisers and the crawlers I had used previously. The vehicle was a tracked platform with a single tower mounted on top.

Compared to my previous designs it was unimpressive. Barely twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide the base platform was only five feet high. The tower, which stood twenty feet high, barely had any armor at all. Even what armor it had was all made from steel.

The tower was made from heavy scaffolding with thin sheets of metal forming a shell. Within the tower were dozens of skeleton archers welded into place. Each archer faced an arrow slit fitted with a simple shutter.

The advantage though was it was the first type of land cruiser that was mass producible. Everything about the Thornholds were completely independent of my unique powers. Sort of.

Sure most of it was made with the help of my powers, but they were all independent of me at this point. The materials were all generated from metal founts. The archers were all summoned with reliquaries. Even the animation was done with through the censer. But none of that required me to be there. It was all self sustaining.

Sure what magic was being used was currently reliant on me, but unlike my powers the magic needed to build these land cruisers can actually be taught. I don't trust it to just anyone though. Even if none of my children have inherited my powers I can still leave them a legacy of power.

Every child of mine is taught the basics of several branches of magic as they grow up. While not all of them took too it, enough did that I feel confident the knowledge won't be lost when I pass on. As a compromise between the various cultures legal adulthood is set at fourteen in my empire. Every child of my mine is offered a dragon egg at that point.

So far only my oldest son, Dhagon, has reached that age, although he has delayed hatching it until he completes the samurai training. I've tested all of my children already and all of them are resistant to fire so the hatching ceremony shouldn't kill any of them.

I had even started having scribes following behind me so I can dictate notes and snatches of lore I want recorded I don't want to forget. I feel a bit sorry for anyone who attempts to piece them together into coherent memoirs though. At least I'm no where near as bad as Tolkien was.

Shipping the Arc Hammers back to Essos was a nightmare and until I had more maegi the Thornholds were bottlenecked. Still they were amusing diversions. At least until I got the reports back from the north.

White Walkers had been spotted.


	30. Pushing Boundaries

Chapter 30 Pushing Boundaries

White Walkers.

WTF?

Winter doesn't start for another year! It's still autumn right now!

Huh. They don't seem to be doing much. Just staring at the Wall. Maybe they're just scouting right now?

A few wights probed my defenses, but pulled back after the first few were shot down. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll decide to wait another eight thousand years?

Damn it. I'm not going to take any chances. At least Westeros has already been crushed. I'll leave my son to clean it up while I go deal with the Long Night.

First thing I do is order my scrying division to stop checking the far north. In the books the Night King could reach out through greenseer visions. No point risking any of my very limited subjects who can actually use glass candles. And I'm certainly not going to expose any of my children to him.

I have them monitor the Wall for now. That should be safe enough. I should probably start reinforcing my air fleet. I guess I can't really take my time with my enemies if the Long Night really is starting.

I order all of my land cruisers, at least the non Thornhold versions, to be assembled into a single unit and sent south. I was going to crush Ghis before it had a chance to become even an irritant. I don't want any distractions. I also began another project, this one to deal with the Deep Ones.

So far the Deep Ones hadn't proven too dangerous ever since I had implemented countermeasures. That was no reason to ignore them though. My marines were coming along nicely, but I strongly disliked being stuck on the defensive. I also remember the giant shadows deeper in the ocean. While I don't know they are hostile, I'm not about to assume they aren't either.

Sadly none of the weapons or enchantments I have will work well underwater. From what I remember the only effective underwater weapons were basically drones, so I went in the opposite direction. I went big.

My first submarine design was a massive valyrian steel vessel propelled by turbines along with a dragon skull. It stretched six hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide. It would house dozens of beacons with overlapping fields. Each one would only slightly damage an enemy, but with enough of them even an elder guardian would be destroyed in seconds.

The amount of valyrian steel required was ludicrous. I doubt I'll make more than one, but that should be plenty. Still I devoted all the resources I could spare for the project. Sadly it will months at the minimum to complete. I'm tempted to stop making equipment for my military to finish it faster, but I'm not that desperate. At least not yet.

The Dreadnought will serve as the battering ram for my more mobile marines. Just in case I included a heavily enchanted battering ram in the front. That way I can use it in naval battles as well. It was already going to take enormous amounts of resources, what's a bit more?

I even managed to incorporate a bay on the bottom that allowed marines to be deployed or just catch a breath of air. Sadly it was only because the beacons didn't reach downwards. Despite the extra thick layer of armor it left the bottom exposed, like the underbelly of a dragon.

I couldn't really find a way to fix the problem so I came up with an alternative. The animated puppets from Yi Ti can reach epic proportions so I just need to make some for myself. They can serve as escorts and support. Of course that will take time to develop and delay my assault, but I wasn't willing to wait a decade or so for the next generation to grow up.

Maybe I should try out beastmen again?

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Beastmen will have to wait for now. My Jotun project was far more important. By the time I initially expected the Long Night to start they would have been ready. I wouldn't have many, but they would at least exist with a stable population. Now they'll take much longer with all the projects I'm rushing through.

Besides, I might want to avoid anything like that after the example of the manticoremen. The thought of unleashing mirelurks on the world is not a happy one. Even if they would make amazing shock troops. And jotuns are much more likely to be useful than any beastmen I can build I can build in that time frame.

Speaking of beastmen, that given me an idea. I immediately send orders out to the troops expanding my borders southwards. I want to them instead concentrate on securing the railroad that leads to Meereen using the same tactics.

Given my land cruisers had just pasted through the area it should be relatively clear. Also, it would allow me to both finish off Ghis and give me a southern coastline. I really really wanted access to Sothoryos. Ulthos and Asshai would also be a nice bonus. The Summer Isles too. And Naath.

I should probably stop any plans for expansion until I at least secure Westeros. Still, it isn't like there is going to be much competition with what feels ninety percent of the population dead. Fucking crazy Targaryens. It makes me monitor my kids all the closer. No way was I going to unleash brood of mad dragon riding maegi on this world.

At least my air fleet is coming along nicely. My setup continues to harvest dragons in the End. In fact just a little work had exponentially increased their spawn rate. Parties of advanced golems hunted throughout the Nether for the parts I needed. Every few hours a new dragon was harvested and most of that time was actually from the harvesting.

With the abundant supplies I also take the time to upgrade the design of my zeppelins. A third air bag allow for the bags to be set up with an internal cell structure. I don't remember if the massive ice javelins from the show were in the book, but I've already run into enough surprises.

Even with each zeppelin using up several times as much resources I'm able to turn out one a day. The excess dragon skulls all go to my slowly expanding navy. With pretty much every other major naval power destroyed my traders and explorers have free reign.

The lack of the navies though means that pirates are once more flourishing. You'd think the lack of shipping or even countries would be a problem. Instead they're spreading like a sea borne version of the manticoremen.

Interrogating captured pirates reveals they seem to operating from several areas. The main ones though are all islands, which is why they haven't been overrun. Seems it's time to head south. Well, not me personally, but I send a fleet there.

Sometimes, between the aerial view from scrying and how I maneuver the automated zeppelins and land cruisers I feel like I'm playing an RTS. Of course it's the slowest RTS I've ever faced. So maybe less Starcraft and more Dawn of War.

I don't actually spend too much time focusing on the south. The various islands being used as bases were assigned several zeppelins and then I moved on. Stepstones, Basilisk Islands, Valyria. I tried to cover everything.

Only one place was spared. Lys.

Not because they were in any way innocent. In fact they were among the worst. But because of their enormous slave population. A population I can definitely use. Most of the trainees from several branches of my military took part in the invasion for the experience.

I was pretty annoyed to find they were also using beastmen. Thankfully the majority were all trained as servants and shouldn't have any problems integrating into my empire. The Ghiscari troops were another story. Almost a full legion was stationed there. Not that it did any good. My troops may be considered fresh out of training, but they were still terrifying compared to normal soldiers. Between armor and potions I didn't lose a single soldier. A flawless victory.

Naath and the Summer Isles were both free from Ghiscari influence. Looks like I arrived just in time. Naath wasn't too hard to incorporate. Between their pacifist ways and virulent diseases no one really bothers them much. I still took the time to meet with several of their leaders and gift them with valyrian steel tools. None of my laws really bothered them, so they easily agreed to join my empire. Easiest conquest ever.

The Summer Isles actually proved almost as easy. Warfare there was in the form of elaborate tournaments between small groups of champions. Myself alone would have been enough, but I took the time to show off.

Three marines and three samurai accompanied me and I let them destroy the competition. Then I would proceed to spar with soldiers, me against the other six. They were much more challenging then any enemy I had faced before, but tattooes, enchanted equipment and other bonuses all stacked. Animating the various layers of armor to grant myself power armor just made it even more unfair.

In the end the Summer Isles were conquered after a few weeks of tournaments and feasting. I laid out my laws, which they largely didn't mind. Citizenship and trade restrictions were the only real issues. In the end though they backed down.

In the interest of trade I only planned on transporting golden heart to a very few places and none of them were to be used for mass production. They didn't like it, but agreed in the end. Since I gave them valyrian steel tools and dragon skulls in exchange I felt that it was more than fair. Besides, they no longer had to worry about being invaded now, so the original reason for the ban was no longer valid.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

The next few months were spent trying to wipe out all of my enemies. I had spent a solid could of days finishing up the Dreadnought and it's launch was enough to give me enough of a reprieve from raids that I ended up building more.

I never got around to building the animated guards so I had them operate in pairs. Coupled with the fact I was restricting them from making any forays into deep water they were safe enough. More importantly my seas were finally fairly safe.

Just too bad it was a bit late. With the rising popularity of air ships most trade was now aerial, not naval.

Of course this was only possible because I had finally caught up with the demand for new equipment. For some reason I expected it to be constant drain. I forgot that it'll probably be years before my population grows enough to provide another generation of recruits.

Afterwards I micromanaged my land cruisers to ensure the Ghis Empire was thoroughly destroyed. I sent the trainees out again. They here necessary to take most of the cities since I wanted to actually save and free as many slaves as possible instead of just killing everything.

The legions were hilariously outmatched by the land cruisers. Sure they were highly trained, but their discipline just made it easier to kill them since they didn't run. After the last few enemies I had faced it was decidedly anticlimactic.

I even managed to get more materials from Yi Ti. Despite my aid the war was still a fairly slow affair. It was highly ritualized and thus exploitable.

In the dead of night all of my land cruisers along with two thousand samurai riding autos. A single auto drove up to the wall and along it, dropping pallets of TNT as it went. The explosion completely destroyed their western wall.

The land cruisers drove in and rampaged throughout the city slaughtering everything in their reach. The samurai followed behind quietly and started looting the buildings I had marked. In less then an hour they retreated with the cumulative written knowledge from one of Yi Ti's maegi academies.

Afterwards I had a dozen Napalm-class zeppelins burn the remains of the city to the ground. I also had the rest of the walls destroyed. I really didn't want to give them any reason to consider me an enemy.

Checking on Westeros showed the Wall was still only being probed. Also while King's Landing was secured, Dhagon lacked the manpower to expand further. He had moved to the north and started rounding up survivors there.

There weren't many. Between my zeppelins, the manticoremen and them killing each other he was having trouble finding pockets of more than a dozen or so at a time. I have no doubt in a another few years there wouldn't have been anyone left. I hope their grateful.

I sent him supplies to rebuild to North as his new domain. He seemed happy enough with that idea, especially with the Long Night approaching.

Now if I could just get the rest of my children interested in ruling.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

It seems there will always be crazy brave people in my empire. With the destruction of my last public enemy my empire relaxed. More and more veterans were opting to retire. Sometimes they settled down, but most often they became explorers.

The process of reclaiming land from the manticoremen had become largely routine the crews were slowing down. It wasn't as if there wasn't already enough cleared land to house the population of the empire several times over. With cleared land on the southern border and a railroad connecting it new lands and more importantly the unknown called to them.

Ironically it was Ghis that had given me the key. Manticoremen don't eat each other. In fact they actively ignore each other once they mature. Armor made from their shells apparently is close enough to trigger the same instinct.

Since that discovery I've had teams of armored golems sweeping the land. Already the rate of reclaiming land had risen dramatically. I've even sent a few teams to Westeros to start there. Everywhere possible I'm attempting to secure my territory.

Both Valyria and Sorthoryos were considered the new frontiers. While I have no intention of conquering it anytime soon, it is still a vast untapped well of potential resources. In the this time of relative peace people seem eager to throw themselves into danger. My only consolation is they aren't completely reckless.

The price of potions skyrocketed as they were stockpiled by teams preparing for expeditions. I often traded sponsorship since gold had long since lost any meaning to me. After all I can generate it if I need too.

Which reminds me to try and find a solution to hyperinflation soon. The only thing preventing it right now was the state sponsored farms and industries selling so many of the basics at fixed prices. Really hoping my empire lasts more than one generation.

Expeditions to Sothoryos have already paid off. Exotic plants and animals are being imported daily. Several, such as pineapples, i've already added to my gardens. It's funny how much I've missed the variety of foods from my past life.

Of course the expeditions aren't without danger. There are a number of ruins found throughout the land and despite all their preparations people still die. Still, everyone presses on, each eager to find the natives I suspect live there and that I've posted a huge bounty for.

Even with numerous groups foraying into the jungle progress is slow. Without actually leveling enormous swaths of jungle they have an enormous disadvantage. The diseases and poisons are a constant drain on resources. The heat and humidity is the last part. Coming from dry cool Essos, the climate kills more people than anything else.

Sorthoryos isn't the only place explorers are venturing. A number are in Asshai and despite my warnings Leng. They're very strictly unofficial since I have no desire to draw the attention of what may live there. There are just too many clues pointing towards the existence of Old Ones.

I considered trying to block it off, but it didn't seem worth it. People had survived on the island for centuries already, why draw unnecessary attention to it?

I also have a trickle of people heading further east now that the Yi Ti civil war was dying down. My raid had really shaken confidence in the Azure Emperor and more and more provinces were defecting. Already the northern most roads were safe to use.

The future looks bright. However there's less then a year until winter begins.


	31. Target Rich Environment

Chapter 31 Target Rich Environment

So Yi Ti declared war on me. I guess my raid wasn't discrete enough. Sure they had no real evidence, but their maegi could apparently use very sophisticated divination spells. A branch of magic they had labeled ancestral invocation.

It was very divination heavy, containing spells to view past events along with blocking other spells. War seemed a trivial price to pay for access to such a useful school of magic. My scrying division is going to become exponentially more effective once I incorporate it.

The raid had outraged them so much that despite my treaty both emperors had joined together to march against me. Loudly decrying my cowardly and dishonorable actions. With a lot of pomp and ceremony they had combined their armies and marched side by side against me.

Pointless.

Scouts and scriers gave me plenty of warning. I feel a bit like kicking myself for tempting fate. Seeing the massive column of giant constructs marching in formation makes me realize that my idea of aerial drake cavalry was still a few decades from full implementation.

Sure I had given them hundreds of eggs, but it takes time for them to grow up and even then they're divided between all three cities. No, it looks like I won't be able to rely on them just yet.

Still that wasn't my only defense. I still had the land cruisers in the area, particularly the arc hammers. I had them stay just ahead of the column, constantly raining down iron bars. A few others also harass them, launching showers of arrows and windlance bolts at them.

It doesn't stop them. I'm not sure if it's just stubborn pride or they're delusional enough to think they can win, but they march on. Even as my land cruisers whittle their numbers down they don't turn back. It'd be admirable if it wasn't so stupid. But if they're going to act like idiots I'm not going to stop them.

I pull most of the land cruisers back. The arc hammers keep attacking, but the rest circle around to get behind the army. When they finally do break I want to make sure to completely shatter the army.

The army seems almost cheerful despite still being harassed. Almost like they think they're winning somehow. It's annoying enough that I decide I don't want to defeat them, I want to destroy them. I send out my entire fleet of automated zeppelins. I hold them back until the enemy within sight of the walls of Bayasabhad.

Then I order the air fleet to attack. I have almost a hundred napalm-class zeppelins. A literal wall of fire slowly sweeps along the road and through the army even as thousands of arrows rain down.

Now they break.

It's too late though. They marched across sixty miles of desert and I just burned all their supplies. Anyone who does make it past the land cruisers will still be easily picked off by the air ships still chasing them.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I can't just leave the situation alone. Yi Ti declared war on me. I need to respond. The problem was the reports I had just gotten. Reports I had trouble believing. Several of the remaining nobles from Omber had rebelled, taking advantage of my absence to declaring themselves independent and started raiding the surrounding areas.

The world has gone mad. There can be no other explanation. Why else would they challenge me? I've killed millions by this point, thousands personally. They can't realistically have any hope of winning.

I thought I had killed all of the idiotic nobles when I first took over, but clearly I missed some. I had been feeling like an armchair general recently so I decided to take care of it myself. I leave orders to have the air fleet assault every city save the capital, which I wanted to loot, and head back.

I take my helicopter, which had since been extended until it housed three pairs of rotors. It was also armed with actual guns.

Just because I couldn't mass produce guns doesn't mean I completely abandoned the concept. Over the years I had tinkered with various designs, steadily improving the ones I had. The final result was what I had mounted on my transport.

Automated gatling cannons. Two five barrel cannons that are continuously fed ammo out of a series of hoppers and chests. I set up an ender chest that my advanced golem crew used to keep the chests filled. The other end led to a small warehouse entirely stuffed with ammunition.

The ammunition was the most annoying part. Since my powers let my skip so many steps when crafting I ended up grossly over engineering the forty millimeter shells. They were closer to long skinny rockets then bullets.

Originally I planned on saving it for the Night King, but I shouldn't really use anything without at least one test run. In the newly christened Scourge I flew off to rain destruction on Omber.

You ever see those documentaries or even just movies of soldiers charging bravely across the battlefield, ignoring cannon and artillery fire and making it across? I remember looking it up once and it's true. True saturation bombing just isn't really feasible. For some reason, despite all odds, infantry charges often work when they shouldn't. That wasn't the case here.

If anything I had underestimated the effectiveness of my cannons. Maybe it was due to a quirk in the game mechanics my power runs off of or something else. Whatever the reason there weren't any survivors. All that was left were burned chunks of what used to be several small private armies.

I was more than satisfied. I was ecstatic. Just add in some obsidian sand I bet I can mow down white walkers just as easily. Too bad the ammunition is such a pain to make. Still, it's a good trump card.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

As if all of that wasn't enough I get word that the expeditions finally made contact with the raptormen in Sorthoryos. By this point I wasn't expecting good news so I wasn't surprised they were hostile.

Of course it couldn't be even that neat and tidy. The report revealed there are actually two intelligent races of beastmen. The raptormen and a race of giant ape men. Both hate eat other and are constantly fighting. They also xenophobic and attack any humans they run across.

They also both possess unique forms of magic. The raptormen can control insects and the apemen have some kind of necromancy. Thankfully neither has any form of divination blocking so I could view the encounters using the lore stolen from Yi Ti.

The raptormen have some kind of druidic magic. They can scout by taking to animals and control plants and insects. They can also cause plants to grow supernaturally fast. I'm not sure if they're summoning them or breeding them incredibly quickly, but they can also generate insects.

The apemen had possession of a branch of magic that was profoundly unnatural. Following one of the expeditions that had disappeared I saw them use what looks like a combination of flesh warping and necromancy on them. Each person was twisted into a feral clawed monstrosity that I recognized from other reports. Ghouls.

If they follow the same pattern they were just as feral as they looked. They were also very strong and could regenerate from most wounds.

They didn't just use me people. Captured brindlemen, natives to Sorthoryos, were also used. Raptormen were turned into something even worse.

Bloated grotesque versions of there former selves they housed swarms of manticores. It makes me wonder if the apemen had created the insects originally.

It also relieves me just a bit. At least their magic can't be traced back to myself. It's nice to run into a problem that wasn't caused by me.

I'd be tempted to mobilize my military and start conquering Sothoryos except for a couple of factors. First my military was still pretty small, especially in comparison to my territory. Secondly I don't have the population base to colonize new territory. Hell, most of the land I'm taking now is just sitting empty.

Lastly it looks like the Long Night is starting early. The probes from earlier had recently started getting larger and the wights are not acting like mindless drones. They're starting to use crude shields and formations. With how quickly their gear is developing I wouldn't be surprised to find them with siege equipment soon.

While it's nice to see my defenses were impressive enough to cause them to change tactics, I really hate smart enemies. Which may be why my response was a touch excessive.

I set the north on fire.

Over a hundred napalm-class zeppelins did their best to reduce all the land north of the Wall to ash. A pair of pyromancer-class land cruisers followed in their wake to take care of anything that survived the initial wave of fire.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Several days pass as the Haunted Woods burn. I keep the air fleet concentrated on the mainland although I do station a few scouts on Bear Island and Skagos. Not going to discount a flanking maneuver at this point.

It was only once the smoke from the fires had gotten thick enough to render scrying useless that I realized I should probably rethink my strategy.

I needed to calm down. The wights are meaningless. The real problem was the Night King and maybe his white walkers. As long as they survive I haven't won.

So I need to hunt down the Night King and find a way to make sure he dies or at least is neutralized.

I should probably start with the basis for his magic.

To aid in that I build another airship, but not a zeppelin. An enormous quadcopter with animated metal arms along with rows of reinforced cages. Snatchers.

I only build two. The first is for wights. The second, with fewer but stronger cages, is to bag me a white walker. If they work out I can see myself building more to collect more specimens from around the world. I also want two just in case one gets destroyed.

They're a success.

Wights are pitifully easy to capture having no real special powers. White walkers aren't much better. Sure they can shatter normal steel, but the cages were made from heavily enchanted valyrian steel. More than enough to contain them.

I didn't see the Night King. I know he was there since several of the zeppelins had holes punched through them and even the Snatchers had a few dents from ice javelins.. Seems he was hiding. Pity since it would have been nice to end the war with a quick decapitation strike.

Still I got what I had been aiming for. The wight was a bust. Fairly normal zombie with specific weaknesses. Direct magic feed back to it's creator. Works like the zombies made with the Black Cauldron of Arawn.

The white walker was a gold mine. It opened up another branch of magic. This one built around the actual white walkers.

Combine a weirwood sapling, obsidian dagger and a baby zombie and instant white walker. It was exactly what I had been looking for. Intelligent magic wielding minions.

Seeing how efficiently the controlled the wights they can animate I'm almost giddy with the possibilities. Best of all they can animate and control manticoremen. Looks like clearing them out just got incredibly easy.

God bless the Long Night.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

With the proven success of the Snatchers I quickly start building more and sending them out to Sorthoryos. I'm not sure how useful their magic will be for me, but I still want it.

I send more out to Asshai and a dozen other places. Anywhere I hear a rumor of another type of magic I raid. It was reckless, but I no longer felt like I needed to be careful. With possible endless legions of manticoremen wights I feel like I'm finally safe.

The wights aren't much better then golems, but they're hivemind makes them unparalleled as construction. They also can function underwater. A white walker on each of my dreadnoughts makes them exponentially more dangerous.

They don't work everywhere. Sadly I can see why the Night King acted as he did. Wights need the cold to survive. Get them warm and they start to weaken. Eventually they rot and then you need a new wight. Even the white walkers got stronger the colder they were. So blanketing all of Planetos in an ice age makes sense for him.

Good thing I don't need to worry about that.

If anything, the metal founts and napalm zeppelins are warming the planet. If I wasn't worried about accidentally baking the planet I'd probably start dropping blocks of magma all over the far north.

So I to the next best thing. I start converting every manticoreman in Westeros into wights. I also convert numerous other creatures. I'm fairly certain that my empire is a much greater source of corpses than the bleak north. The graveyards alone mean I can probably match the Night King's numbers.

Let's see how the Night King likes it facing off against an endless army of wights.


	32. Epilogue

Chapter 32 Epilogue

The Long Night was a disappointment. Perhaps I spent too much time preparing or I just deluded myself. I expected an epic battle, terrifying foes beyond anything I've ever faced before and a heroic last stand. Something like when I faced my siblings.

Instead I had a cakewalk. Seems the night king, without any wildlings to hunt down, had already consolidated his forces near the Wall. My burning of the Haunted Woods had destroyed a large portion of his wights.

What he had left never breached my defenses. They threw themselves in seemingly endless hordes and shattered. A single battle marked the end of the Night King. I sent out zeppelins and land cruisers to hunt down the scattered remains of his forces. In the end I didn't have to send out a single human soldier.

The Night King was a lot less intelligent than I had thought. I'm not sure what he thought he could accomplish with his insane cavalry charge. What good are giant spiders against land cruisers?

Further confirming his lack of intelligence was how he refused to retreat. Even as all of his minions burned and he found himself trapped he kept mindlessly attacking. I attempted to talk, but got nowhere.

It's just as well. I always did hate smart enemies.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Without the Long Night hovering over my head all my problems seemed so much less pressing. I felt I had all the time in the world. I put the war against Yi Ti in hold. I have a strong border and after militarizing so much of my empire it wouldn't do to suddenly lack enemies. That's how bandits and warlords start. No, much better to slowly wind down tensions.

It was for that reason I also opted not to invade Sothoryos. Besides the use of snatchers I largely left it to small scale incursions. I also spent quite a bit of time spreading out my troops securing my territory and consolidating my rule.

Integrating the Summer Isles, Westeros and Ghis will take a lot of work.

The war against the Deep Ones was also making slow but steady progress. Against them at least I had no problem winning decisively. The problem was actually hunting all of them down. The sea floor was not the easiest place to scout.

I already had dreadnoughts and marines clearing the seas. Modified floating fortresses allowed marines to be deployed without constructing bases everywhere. But my greatest breakthrough was depth charges.

My recreation of the weapon from my past was fairly brutal. I didn't have the advanced chemistry to fine tune explosives. I stuck with what I had. TNT. Lots of TNT.

Since TNT isn't affected by water I used it by the pallet. Eight cubic meters of TNT was enough to demolish any fortifications my marines encountered. Still, it wasn't enough to win.

To win I needed to project my power. My answer was the Leviathan. Powered by redstone and turbines it easily matched the largest examples of the animal that shared it's name. Significantly out-massing even my floating fortresses it was designed to actually serve as a mobile construction site.

It housed everything needed to generate it's own blocks of TNT. It used metal founts for saltpeter and sulfur. It even had an internal grove for wood to make charcoal. Sand was made by grinding up glass. Funny how I can endlessly generate glass, but not sand. At least not directly.

It was even large enough to house offensive beacons on the same wings that housed propellers to aid in ascending and descending. Meters of armor meant it was the most heavily protected of any vehicle I've made so far.

It was by no means a perfect solution. It was a good start though. Like ancient Carthage I fully intend my walls to be my soldiers.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

Years pass.

Winter ends. The Long Night never really occurs. Even at it's coldest and darkest my people are well off. My powers allowed food to be grown and stored no matter the conditions. The only real concession is I have an increased demand for pickaxes so people can build underground levels to their homes.

I'm not really sure why I'm so surprised when spring arrives. I guess I still expected something to happen right at the last minute. I feel like I can finally relax now. Besides, it's not like there are any real problems left.

My borders are expanding in every direction. Despite my decision not to actively invade Sorthoryos it's still slowly being colonized for it's climate. Organizing and ruling all of that is tedious. Which is why I've largely leave my empire alone in favor of my projects.

I largely turned the burden of ruling over to my children. Aside from a little advice everything seems to be well in hand. Widespread literacy, printing presses and redundant libraries in every major city means the world is rapidly changing.

Ten years have gone by and I have yet to encounter any sign of higher powers. R'hllor, the Great Other or any of a whole host of supposed dieties there is no sign. I kept gathering new branches of magic. And in the end that's all I've gotten from each religion I've crushed. Another branch of magic. It's enough to make one doubt in the afterlife.

I guess I really am alone here.

Could be worse.

Slowly I'm molding Planetos into a futuristic society. I even have an underwater city. It's a fantastic construction of enchanted glass, weirwood and valyrian steel. If I didn't have to build so much of it personally I'd have a dozen more.

Halfway through the winter I finally made a breakthrough with shulkers and discovered how to permanently enchant items to levitate. New classes of massive airships started to become more common. Flying fortresses and even a single flying city were made.

That wasn't enough for me though. Given how strong valyrian steel is I'm attempting to build a space elevator. With dragon skulls to provide reactionless propulsion I've already built space ships. Although it won't be any time soon I've already started designing my first space station.

From space the view is fantastic and revealed just how little of Planetos I actually rule over. Only around a third of the world. Which is a good thing. I'd really hate to ever run out of new things to discover.

I doubt I'll live to see a colony on another planet. Even my fastest ships move at a fraction of the speed required to make the distance feasible. They'll be decades of not centuries in reaching even the closest. Still, leaving behind the beginnings of an interstellar magitech empire seems like a decent legacy.

 **Oooo - Ooo - Oo - O - oOo - O - oO - ooO - oooO**

I was wrong. My kids are really too good to me.

It took countless attempts, but they've finally reached the closest planet which I had named Terra out of sentimental value. A chain of travel gates and nether portals based on space stations were slowly being built. When it finishes I was to be the first to use to walk in the new world.

Which is how I can to this.

I'm old. My powers have kept me fit but it's been over thirty years since I established my empire. My frequent use of the Nether hasn't helped my age at all.

However there is hope.

Research and experimentation has given me to means to convert people. It drives them crazy or mindless, but I'm gambling my powers will preserve me.

Two of my children are overseeing the process. If I come out rabid they are instructed to put me down. I doubt I'd enjoy such an existence.

If I succeed though...

Well, that can't be completely a bad thing. After all I am still the only source of valyrian steel and minecraft items. Surely preserving the empire is worth a few risks?


End file.
